Newsletter 
Samsung’s Bixby artificial intelligence (AI) assistant is capable of rapping, beatboxing, and even making fun of its competitors while doing it, owners of the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8 Plus in South Korea have discovered. The Seoul-based consumer electronics manufacturer started rolling out the Bixby Voice feature of its digital companion in its home country on Monday, and with many owners of the company’s new Android flagship lineup being eager to experiment with what Bixby is capable of, a lot of curious features and easter eggs hidden in the assistant were uncovered soon after it launched.
Among other things, owners of the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8 Plus realized that they can tell Bixby to rap and beatbox, and the former actually includes a dig at Siri, with the first letter of every verse actually saying “I’m better than Siri” in Korean. It remains to be seen whether a similar Easter egg will be present in the English version of Bixby seeing how the lyrics cannot be effectively translated word-for-word for obvious reasons, but it seems likely that the team responsible for developing Bixby’s personality will come up with some entertaining content in an effort to make Bixby seem more human and relatable. The personality of AI companions is something that a lot of tech giants have been focusing on in recent years, with Google even hiring former Pixar writers and other creative professionals to infuse some humanlike quirks into the Google Assistant.
While Samsung is certainly advertising Bixby as one of the main selling points of the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8 Plus, the company’s new AI assistant is meant to become much more than that. Samsung’s statements leading up to Bixby’s official announcement as well as the announcement itself have revealed that the Seoul-based tech giant is looking to make its first serious foray into the AI market by creating an ecosystem centered around its new voice-enabled companion. The AI platform Samsung is looking to develop will span a broad range of consumer electronics, from smartphones and tablets to TVs, microwaves, and air conditioners, the company revealed. Time will tell whether the South Korean company manages to fulfill its AI-related ambitions, but more information on its efforts to do so is bound to follow in the near future.
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