Samsung confirms new AI assistant for Galaxy S8

Samsung has confirmed its plans to deliver a new digital assistant for the Galaxy S8 in a press meeting at its Seoul headquarters. The software, which will be based on Samsung’s recently acquired Viv platform, is to be integrated into many of its upcoming smart products: from phones, to wearables, to home appliances.

Samsung purchased San Jose-based company Viv Labs last month, sparking rumors that its AI software would be featured in Samsung’s next flagship. The Viv platform makes use of a conversational interface and machine learning algorithms to assist users and simplify tasks, but what exactly it will offer the Galaxy S8 isn’t yet known.

“We are developing a key major interface which will bring about a totally new paradigm; an open AI platform,” said Lee Jae-yong, Samsung Electronics’ vice chairman. “The current Galaxy smartphones need separate applications for users, for instance, to order pizza or coffee. But, the new AI platform will enable them to order (or do) things directly without going through separate applications,” he added.

The South Korean company also said it’s planning more acquisitions in the aid of improving its AI and software capabilities in the future.

The Galaxy S8 is expected to be unveiled at MWC 2017 in late February and it needs to deliver if Samsung is to recover some of the billions of dollars lost due to the Galaxy Note 7 cancellation. Other recent rumors regarding the Galaxy S8 include speculation of a 90% screen-to-body ratio and 5.5-inch 4K display.

Meanwhile, Google just released its own new digital assistant product, Google Home, last Friday. Look out for our first-impression of that later today.