Earlier this week, Samsung announced Bixby, their new AI assistant which the company will built into their forthcoming Galaxy S8. Bixby will join the ranks of Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana, Amazon’s Alexa, Google Now and Google Assistant.
Back in October, Samsung acquired VIV Labs, an AI and assistant system company co-founded by the very same people that created Siri. It is to be understand that Samsung is making use of its acquisition to help them design their first digital assistant.
The deal showcases Samsung’s commitment to virtual personal assistants,” Injong Rhee, CTO of Samsung’s Mobile Communications business, said in a press release following the acquisition. “Viv was built with both consumers and developers in mind. This dual focus is also what attracted us to Viv as an ideal candidate to integrate with Samsung home appliances, wearables, and more, as the paradigm of how we interact with technology shifts to intelligent interfaces and voice control.
-Injong Rhee, CTO of Samsung’s Mobile Communications business
In a trademark filed by Samsung in South Korea for “Bixby”, it was for a “computer software for personal information management.” That could means we could see Bixby being used in not just smartphones but also in home appliances and wearable devices.