Users seem to have a love-hate relationship with Samsung's Bixby assistant. Still, that situation could improve in the future, as Samsung is reportedly looking to add lots of generative AI.
While speaking with CNBC, a top executive at Samsung said that the company could add generative artificial intelligence to its voice assistant. This could add features similar to ChatGPT and other popular AI language models to the assistant, which would greatly expand its usefulness. It could also give the firm's devices a leg up on Apple and its other competitors that don't have generative AI baked into them yet.
While voice assistants have been guiding users through basic queries on their phones for some time, ChatGPT and other generative AI models can actually create things at a user's request. If Bixby gets the complete generative AI treatment, users could ask for it to create art, music, and other items for them, which is a significant departure from asking for directions and the other essential tasks Bixby currently handles.
"So Bixby has been a key voice assistants voice assistant for Samsung not just for the mobile devices, but also for TVs and digital appliances that exist in Samsung’s ecosystem. So it has been the core voice assistant so far," explained Won-joon Choi, executive vice president of Samsung's mobile business in an interview with CNBC about a month ago.
And it's not just phones; Bixby is a staple on all of Samsung's connected devices, including tablets, smartwatches, appliances, and more. This could give generative AI more mainstream appeal, as it would be baked into people's devices instead of working as an app they need to download separately.
Unfortunately, Samsung didn't provide details about precisely what Bixby could do when and if it gets the complete generative AI treatment. However, we'd expect the company to round out the feature set before launching it. After all, it wouldn't do a lot of good to offer a limited generative AI experience when there are already tons of other options out there.
Choi said, "With the emergence of generative AI and LLM (large language model) technology, I believe that we have to redefine the role of the Bixby, so that Bixby could be equipped with generative AI and become smarter in the future." Choi added this will "enable a more natural conversation and to work out an interface that supports the Samsung products in our ecosystem."
There's no timeline for Samsung's generative AI, but Choi did say that the company is "working so hard" to bring the technology to its devices.
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