The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 will come loaded with a revised version of the company’s Bixby voice assistant (Bixby 2.0), according to a new report out of The Korea Herald, which directly quotes comments provided by Samsung’s artificial intelligence (AI) head, Gray G. Lee. Finer details on what this means were not provided other than the report stating Lee confirmed Bixby 2.0 will provide faster responses, will be built upon an enhanced level of natural language support, and will be better at dealing with unwanted environmental noise. In other words, it will be better and quicker at hearing the source and better and quicker at providing more accurate results.
The report does not provide any further details on when Bixby 2.0, along with the Galaxy Note 9, will launch, other than drawing on the already-voiced speculation the Galaxy Note 9 will be released a little earlier than usual to satisfy an accelerated release schedule. There was, however, some context provided on the wider topic of Samsung’s AI ambitions, with Lee noted stating the company plans to expand its workforce, as well as the number of AI-dedicated centers it has, and at the global scale, all with a view to improving its AI platform in general, and adhering to five primary objectives the company has set out for the technology. These were explained as Samsung’s version of AI being “user centric, always learning, always there, always helpful and always safe.”
In reality, this is not the first time this has been said as almost identical comments about the Galaxy Note 9 featuring Bixby 2.0 were heard during this year’s MWC event in Barcelona, albeit on that occasion by Samsung’s President of Mobile, Koh Dong-jin. Therefore, these latest comments act more of a reconfirmation of the point, while also providing slightly more expanded on details of what some of the core differences between the two versions of Bixby will be. Speaking of which, Bixby 2.0 is expected to be more than just a slight upgrade, as more comments made — dating as far back as October of last year — alluded to a much improved voice assistant. In Samsung’s words, a “fundamental leap forward,” for the technology.