Samsung Acquires AI Startup To Boost Bixby’s Capabilities

Samsung’s attempt at digital assistants isn’t new as we have seen the company try with the S Voice, although Samsung did appear to make a renewed effort when they acquired Viv Labs last year which resulted in Bixby, the digital assistant found on the likes of the Galaxy S8, S8+, and the Note 8.

However it is clear that Samsung’s ambitions aren’t ending there because according to The Korea Herald, Samsung has acquired an AI startup in Korea called Fluently. The goal of the acquisition is to help boost its AI capabilities, such as helping to make Bixby more conversational, similar to what we’re seeing with the likes of Google Assistant.

Samsung has not mentioned how much they paid for the company or what they plan to use them for, but like we said, given that Fluently seems to specialize in conversational AI, it’s not hard to imagine that Samsung has plans to somehow blend its technology with Bixby to help expand on its capabilities.

So far Bixby has been limited to just Samsung devices, unlike Amazon’s Alexa or Google Assistant which has found its way into third-party apps and hardware. There have been reports that there could be a set of Bixby smart speakers, but at this point in time a launch date has yet to be set.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Cellphones, General
Tags: AI (Artificial Intelligence), bixby, Samsung