Samsung launches into the Bixby Digital Assistant

Samsung is betting on artificial intelligence and makes its technology open.

The company plans to move its Bixby voice assistant to a larger number of non-mobile devices, open the software to developers and make it work in five additional languages, to help its artificial intelligence. to gain ground from users, Eui-Suk Chung, head of Samsung's software and AI, said Wednesday at a presentation at the Samsung developer conference.

Developers will be able to build apps that take advantage of Bixby, in line with Samsung's wish to introduce this technology early last year. And although Bixby already works on smartphones, televisions and refrigerators, there will be even more devices, including tablets and smart speakers, said Chung. The technology will work with more languages ​​"in the coming months," he noted.

"The artificial intelligence will truly transform every experience we have with consumer electronics," said Chung. "With Samsung, Bixby represents our singular commitment to AI, and we believe that Bixby is fundamentally changing the way people use technology and what they can do with AI."

Samsung will spend $ 22 billion on artificial intelligence by 2020, he added. Mr Chung recalled that Samsung planned to employ 1,000 artificial intelligence specialists by 2020, the same deadline for connecting all its products to the Internet and integration with Bixby.

Samsung made the announcement at its fifth annual developer conference on Wednesday and Thursday in San Francisco. The event, which had started modestly at a San Francisco hotel, has expanded in 2016 to Moscone Center West, where Apple had previously held its developer conference. Last year5,000 people attended the SDC.

Samsung has been developing software and service capabilities over the last decade, but has had more failures than successes. His services were launched – including Bixby's predecessor, S Voice – only to be abandoned a few months or years later. Instead of using its local Tizen operating system in its high end smartphones, Samsung has relegated the software to wearables and other products and continues to rely on Android software. Google to power its smartphones and tablets.

The SDC reflects Samsung's efforts to encourage developers to create software specifically for its devices. Previously, this meant creating apps running at the edge of curved curved Samsung smartphone screens or taking advantage of its S Pen stylus. This year, the focus has been on Bixby and artificial intelligence.

"Although Samsung has not been the first to offer software developers, Samsung is attracting the attention of developers because it manufactures around 500 million consumer devices every year, which are or will be "smart and connected", "http://www.cnet.com/" Moor Patrick Moorhead, Analyst at Insights & Strategy.

For Samsung and many others, artificial intelligence is the next big wave of computing. All technology heavyweights invest in these assistants because they are presented as the future of how we will interact with our gadgets. The ultimate promise for smart technology is to predict what you want before you even ask, but in most cases, PDAs are not smart enough yet.

The problem for Samsung is that it could be too late.

According to a poll by Voicebox.AI, only 4% of American adults who use voice assistants on a smartphone use Bixby. This compares to 44% for Siri, 30% for Google Assistant and 17% for Alexa.

In addition, Amazon devices account for 63 percent of the US smart speaker market, with Echo and Echo Dot products at the top of the pack, according to a report released in October by Strategy Analytics. Google has claimed 17%, with Home and Home Mini in the following two places. Apple also has a lead over Samsung with its AccueilPod, which launched last year for $ 349.

Still, Dag Kittlaus, CEO of Viv – an artificial intelligence company bought by Samsung in 2016 – and vice president of mobile R & D at Samsung, said Wednesday that it was still early in the world of artificial intelligence and that it was now time for developers to get started. board. He unveiled Samsung's new Bixby development studio, which allows businesses to easily build applications that leverage Bixby. They will be able to make "capsules" that resemble the skills of Amazon Alexa to play music.

When Bixby was launched more than a year ago, the technology aimed to act as an "enlightened companion" on smartphones, allowing users to easily and quickly make things like taking a snapshot. screen or find a picture and send it to a friend. It was a new interface, not a full digital assistant, able to tell you how high Abraham Lincoln or the capital of Kansas was.

Last year, Samsung expanded Bixby to refrigerators and TVs and added more features to the digital assistant. Samsung has also announced that it will work with partners of choice on applications using Bixby, a first step before opening its SDK 2018 software development kit more widely.

"Bixby is moving from a product feature to a platform," said Moorhead. "The Developer Studio is a one-stop shop for developers whose goal is to make it easier for anyone with a Bixby service."

First published at 10:23 am Pacific Time
Continually updated with additional details

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