In case you have been hibernating, you wouldn’t know that Samsung recently acquired Viv, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) platform that enables developers to distribute products through an intelligent, conversational interface. Based in San-Jose, this company is known in the AI space as the creators of Siri. Samsung’s acquisition of Viv got everybody thinking that the company is planning to venture into AI. And it now looks like guess is in fact true – the Galaxy S8 will feature Samsung’s own digital assistant, as reported by Reuters.
The company is still recovering from the reputation damage and financial losses caused by exploding Note 7. While it has taken necessary steps to contain the damage, many experts of the opinion that it was “too less, too late”. Samsung took nearly a month to actually figure out what was causing the explosions and once it found out the root cause, the actions it took looked desperate and haphazard. Without a proper system and rules in place for the exchange of devices and without proper announcements, people were left confused. It looks like Samsung wants to put all of this behind with the Galaxy S8 by banking on the strengths of Viv’s AI platform.
No. Samsung will not build the new AI from scratch. Instead, it will use Viv’s existing AI platform to power Galaxy S8’s intelligence. Samsung wants to take full advantage of the Viv’s one-stop shop that works across third-party services flawlessly. Talking about the market potential for Digital Assistants, Rhee In-jong, Samsung Executive Vice President said during a briefing – “Developers can attach and upload services to our agent. Even if Samsung doesn’t do anything on its own, the more services that get attached the smarter this agent will get, learn more new services and provide them to end-users with ease.”
Will Samsung succeed in making an impression with its own virtual assistant? Will it be the differentiating factor for Galaxy S8? Well, it depends on how good the new AI will be. Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana and its latest breakthrough in speech recognition software and the newest excitement in the world of AI, Google Assistant have already established themselves and made a mark in their own ways. Considering the competition already out there, Samsung’s AI in Galaxy S8 will just be another feature addition for its flagship devices.
The success or failure of Galaxy S8’s digital assistant will be determined by how well Samsung will position it and how well it will differentiate itself from Siri, Cortana and Google Assistant. Let’s wait and watch!