Speculations surrounding Samsung’s very own AI assistant have been around for a while, and it seems as though the company itself decided to reveal, or more appropriately, confirm its name – only, it’s on Samsung Italy’s privacy policy page. Nonetheless, it’s safe to say that the Korean tech behemoth is all set for Bixby. Little is known of the assistant as of now, but the website does spill some details.
Noticeably, Samsung Italy’s privacy policy page appears to be newly updated. When translated, the site mentions Bixby’s name under the "voice services" heading.
It also mentions the assistant’s ability to control all operations of the touch interface using voice commands.
Bixby to be a strong competitor for Siri
Expected to launch for the Galaxy S8, Samsung’s AI assistant has been dubbed with several names since it was first leaked. Aside from Bixby, it was previously rumored that it would be called Kestra or Viv. What’s clear as of now, however, is that Siri has another rival in addition to Microsoft’s Cortana.
Details on Bixby’s specific tasks are scarce, but the webpage shed some light on what it’s capable of. Besides controlling its touch interface with voice commands, the AI assistant apparently can bring up internet searches using S voice and is capable of playing songs from a playlist.
Speculations on Bixby
It’s sort of frustrating how details are hard to come by and the confirmation is somewhat vague, but it does seem like Samsung is aggressively competing. Taking into account the previous rumors, the Galaxy S8’s native voice assistant is said to fully function on all default apps and will be able to support eight languages.
Searching via images is also one of the AI’s strong features, according to previous reports. Apparently, a user can command Bixby to open up the camera and scan a product to know where to buy it using Samsung Pay Mini. Additionally, it’s said that the voice assistant will make it to Samsung’s other products such as tablets and TVs.
Another thing to watch out for is if there will be both male and female voices for Bixby. The female voice is reportedly going to be called Kestra, one of its rumored names. That said, an official reveal is to be expected when the Galaxy S8 launches on March 29.
