Samsung’s Bixby artificial intelligence (AI) assistant will migrate from the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8 Plus to future Gear watches, wearables, and other Internet of Things (IoT) devices. While speaking on the sidelines of today’s Unpacked event at which Samsung announced its new pair of premium Android smartphones, one of the company’s representatives told Wareable that Bixby will eventually make its way to “the watch, the TV, [and] the fridge.” The official implied that the new voice-enabled companion will likely replace S Voice that’s currently present on its supported Gear wearables, but noted that Bixby might not be making the jump to other devices in the immediate future. As things stand right now, “there’s no specific roadmap” for the arrival of Bixby to new connected watches, refrigerators, TVs, and other Samsung-made consumer electronics, the official said.
Overall, it seems that Bixby might not debut on the Gear S4 that’s expected to be unveiled later this year, but regardless, more information regarding its availability will likely be available in the coming months. Besides being one of the main selling points of the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8 Plus, Bixby is also meant to mark Samsung’s first serious foray into contemporary AI space. In a recent release that officially announced Bixby, the South Korean tech giant explained how its new voice-enabled digital companion is meant to migrate from its flagship smartphones to more handsets and Internet of Things (IoT) devices in the future. Samsung is ultimately looking to build an entire ecosystem around its assistant that it also calls an “intelligent interface.” On that occasion, the Seoul-based company revealed that it’s looking to integrate Bixby into TVs, air conditioners, non-flagship smartphones, and a range of other devices in an effort to provide consumers with a comprehensive and versatile voice interface for controlling their electronics, a sentiment that was now reiterated by Samsung’s official.
Bixby will support Korean as soon as it launches alongside the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8 Plus next month and will receive support for American English in May. The voice-enabled companion will be updated with more languages in the coming months, but Samsung has yet to reveal a more specific time frame regarding Bixby’s efforts to become a polyglot.