THE FUTURE OF SAMSUNG WILL BE AI, IN ALL OF THEIR DEVICES
Samsung expects to have AI features in all of its devices by 2020, but how far is the company willing to go?
Very far, actually. The company's Kim Hyun-suk told the Wall Street Journal that he expects AI features to be available in all Samsung products in the near future, well, by 2020 to be exact.
It will accomplish that in part by building up a team of 1,000 AI-focused engineers in the same time frame, including reassignments for some staff. In theory, that makes it easier to use Samsung's many, many devices, and it gives the company a way of standing out compared to its less-connected peers.
Kim added that dedicated smart speakers would not be quite so important if every device you had could effectively take over that role. Whether or not it helps is another matter.
As of now, Bixby is undercooked next to the likes of Amazon Alexa of Google Assistant, with limited functionalities. However, Bixby 2.0's debut should perhaps help Samsung, but the company still has a long way to go in order to catch up with the forerunners.
It may have to count on its ubiquity in electronics to overcome an aversion to its in-house AI, regardless of how quickly the technology improves.