Samsung’s AI assistant could be taking a step ahead of the likes of Siri. Samsung says it is open to working with the likes of ChatGPT, which could supercharge Bixby and make Samsung's phones and wearables much smarter.
The Investor notes that at a press conference in Malaysia, Samsung President & Head of MX Business TM Roh described the company as “open to collaborating with various partners to find better AI technologies in the future.” and even namechecked OneAI’s AI, saying “ChatGPT's machine learning and deep learning are showing innovations. … The language model will pave the way for Samsung to develop further.”
Roh also mentioned Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Meta as possible partners. Considering its new focus on mixed reality, a collaboration with Meta would make sense but Samsung also enjoys a partnership with both Google and Microsoft (whose Bing search engine is powered by ChatGPT) and faces a tough decision.
While ChatGPT and Bard both have their merits it would be difficult for Samsung to partner with both systems. Google’s concern over ChatGPT reducing the need for search engines is what drove them to develop Bard, and Microsoft’s integration of ChatGPT into Bing finds Google facing fresh competition.
Samsung has not made any commitments, however. As one official told The Investor, “We have not been in discussions over launching mobile services based on ChatGPT. Don’t get us wrong.”
What could Samsung use AI for?
With the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, Bixby gained a bunch of new tricks, like the ability to answer calls for you and relay messages via text-to-speech. This is one of the new features in One UI 5.1. With ChatGPT or Bard integration, however, it could manage much more and have a much more conversational experience with users.
A ChatGPT- powered Bixby could offer a more robust experience on phones and smartwatches in particular. Imagine receiving feedback in the gym in real-time about your weightlifting form, or spurring you on while running. Or you could ask your phone how to save battery life when you're running low or to brighten that photo.
Taking things a step further, Samsung could possibly integrate ChatGPT-like tech into its Galaxy earbuds and perhaps its first mixed reality headset. Samsung has announced intentions to partner with Google and Qualcomm on mixed reality hardware, and at this early stage integrating a chatbot seems like a no-brainer.
Whomever it chooses to partner with, AI systems are improving constantly and could change the way we use phones, even if they do make the occasional mistake.
