Samsung Unveils Next-Generation Bixby with Advanced AI Capabilities in China

Samsung reveals its next-gen Bixby AI - a Galaxy brain to rival ChatGPT and Gemini

This news comes from SamMobile, reporting on the launch of the Samsung W25 and Samsung W25 Flip foldables. The new phones are similar to the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and the Galaxy Z Flip 6, though they're exclusive to China. This new and improved Bixby is also exclusive to these devices and to China, at least for now. It's not clear how long it's going to take for the upgrade to reach the best Samsung phones in the rest of the world, though Samsung will surely want to get its top AI tech out to as many people as it can, as quickly as possible. Samsung has of course gone all in on AI in the last year or so - though its Galaxy AI features reference Google Gemini more than Bixby - and we did hear back in July that the Samsung AI assistant was in line for a ChatGPT-style boost. According to Samsung, the next-gen Bixby can understand "complex user instructions" that combine multiple commands in a single sentence, and will be able to extract information from what's on screen (like maps or photos). We've also got a more modern interface to look forward to, when this new Bixby turns up outside of China, giving Bixby a better chance of seriously competing against all the other AI assistants its up against. In one of the demos Samsung showed off, you can ask next-gen Bixby about what you should wear based on the current weather. It's also capable of taking you step by step through how to do something on your phone (like adding a watermark to an image), and will remember the context of what you've already talked about. Text and voice input are both supported, and Bixby can be summoned from any screen and from any app on a phone. Expect to see it join the other Galaxy AI features across more regions soon - possibly when One UI 7 rolls out at the start of next year.

Samsung Introduces its Next-Generation Bixby Assistant With AI Features

The company says Bixby can also understand complex instructions Samsung has quietly introduced the next generation of its native virtual assistant Bixby in China. The upgraded virtual assistant now comes with artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities and can understand complex commands made in natural language. The new Bixby AI assistant was recently added to the Samsung Galaxy W25 series that was launched in China. Currently, this version of the virtual assistant is not available in other markets and the tech giant has not revealed when it might be available in the global version of its smartphones. The details about the next-generation Bixby assistant were shared by Samsung on the product page of the Galaxy W25 smartphone. Notably, this is said to be the China-specific version of the Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition that launched in South Korea. Alongside, the company also launched the Galaxy W25 Flip which is a rebranded Galaxy Z Flip 6. One of the biggest highlights of this version of Bixby is that it now has a better understanding of the context behind a natural language command and can process complex instructions. For instance, users can ask the virtual assistant "How to get there?" and based on their usual travel pattern, it will show the navigation to their workplace. However, Gadgets 360 staff members were not able to confirm its capabilities. Samsung says the AI-powered Bixby can respond to user prompts with both text and video responses. However, the AI chatbot cannot generate videos. Instead, it sources the most relevant videos from the web. Additionally, the virtual assistant can also translate web pages and save generated outputs in different Microsoft Office file formats such as Word, PPT, and more. Apart from capabilities, the next-generation Bixby has also received a new user interface. Based on the images shared on the product page, the virtual assistant can be opened in a full-screen interface with a text field at the bottom and a minimal layout with a white background. Users can interact with the virtual assistant using both text and verbal prompts. The Bixby AI assistant can also be activated on any other screen on the smartphone.

Samsung debuts AI-powered 'Next-generation Bixby,' but you can't use it yet [Gallery]

After teasing its arrival earlier this year, Samsung has just launched "Next-generation Bixby" for Galaxy devices, but it's not available to all users just yet. When Samsung launched its Galaxy AI suite of features earlier this year, the company left out Bixby in all of the updates. The voice assistant wasn't dead, and even got a UI redesign, but there wasn't much new. In July, Samsung confirmed plans to give Bixby an AI revamp, but didn't say when that would be coming. But, now, the new Bixby has quietly arrived. Alongside the launch of the Galaxy W25 in China (via SamMobile), the company's region-exclusive variant of the Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition, Samsung has introduced "Next-generation Bixby." The new AI-powered assistant will be available with the Galaxy W25 and W25 Flip in China and brings some new features along with it. Samsung details four key new abilities of this updated Bixby, starting with the ability to pull video into requests. Samsung gives the example of adding videos to text responses when asking for travel tips. There's also a new feature that allows Bixby to translate web pages. Samsung also says that the new Bixby will be able to leverage AI to understand "complex user intentions." While the translation from Samsung's website in China makes it a little difficult to understand what this feature is, it appears to simply be natural-language input. Similar to that, Samsung says this new version will be able to better understand instructions in context, as well as being able to use content on screen. Perhaps the biggest feature here is generative AI being applied to office documents, with Bixby apparently being able to generate word documents and slideshows based on user prompts. There's no word on when this "Next-generation Bixby" may arrive outside of China, but it seems entirely possible that this is one of Samsung's big plans for One UI 7 which is scheduled to debut in early 2025. More on Samsung:

Samsung just launched its biggest Bixby update in years | Digital Trends

For the last several years, Samsung's Bixby assistant has felt like an afterthought. Especially in 2024, as Google is launching Gemini and Apple is radically improving Siri, Bixby has been sitting in the corner without any new features to compete. However, it looks like that's finally changing. During a launch event in China for the Galaxy W25 and W25 Flip, Samsung also announced its "next-generation Bixby." This new generation of Bixby is promising a healthy dose of new AI features, many of which should put it on a much more level playing field with Gemini and Siri. Recommended Videos For starters, the new Bixby should be much better at understanding complex questions and will be able to "process multi-tasking instructions contained in a single sentence." Similar to Siri's recent advancements at being able to understand questions/commands when spoken to in a more natural manner, it sounds like Bixby is getting similar treatment. Additionally, the new Bixby will be able to see what's on your phone/tablet screen and use that to better assist its answers. For example, you could be looking at or texting about a restaurant and tell Bixby to "navigate here" to get turn-by-turn directions to that location. Bixby is also seemingly getting a new website translation tool, plus the ability to generate documents, slideshows, and spreadsheets after being given a prompt. Bixby appears to be getting a new UI that takes over the entire screen. It's unclear if it'll copy the glowing screen effect introduced with the new Siri, but it will have a fresh coat of paint compared to the Bixby we have today. All of this sounds promising, but it does come with a fairly big catch. Samsung hasn't announced when its next-generation Bixby will launch outside of the China-exclusive Galaxy W25 and W25 Flip smartphones. It's reasonable to suspect we'll see the new Bixby come to the U.S. alongside the Samsung Galaxy S25 series in early 2025, though that's pure speculation. It's entirely possible this new Bixby won't be ready for a wider release until the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Flip 7 later in 2025. Whenever the new Bixby is ready for prime time, it'll be a hotly anticipated release. Samsung's been no stranger to the AI world this year, going all-in with its Galaxy AI suite, and Bixby has been strangely absent from the whole thing. Whether or not these upgrades are enough to seriously challenge Siri and Gemini remains to be seen, but Samsung's at least on the right track here.

Bixby just got a whole lot smarter thanks to AI - Phandroid

Digital assistants, when they were first introduced, were kind of revolutionary. Unfortunately, over the years they kind of lost their luster. The good news is that if you do use Samsung's Bixby, it looks like the company has given it an AI upgrade that should make it even better to use than ever. So what kind of changes can we expect? Basically, the new and upgraded version of Bixby is powered by LLMs. This means that it will be better at understanding what you say to it and is also more contextual. You should, in theory, be able to talk to it like a regular person and get more comprehensive answers. Before you get too excited, it seems that this version of Bixby is currently only available in China. Specifically, it seems to only be available on the Samsung W25 and W25 Flip, both of which are basically upgraded versions of the Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition and Galaxy Z Flip 6 respectively. We imagine that it should eventually make its way to other Samsung devices further down the line, but we'll have to wait and see. Samsung is also not alone in giving their digital assistants an AI upgrade. Google has basically replaced Google Assistant with Gemini, and Apple is also expected to give Siri an AI boost in the near future.