Little more than six months after the troubled rollout of its Bixby AI assistant, Samsung has doubled down on the platform and announced Bixby 2.0.
As well as bringing relief for frustrated Galaxy S8 and Note 8 smartphone owners, the updated assistant is designed for use on “any and all devices.”
Samsung outlined an approach more similar to Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s Assistant, with Bixby set to appear on smart home hubs, connected speakers, smart TVs and even refrigerators.
Related: What is Bixby?
Announced during Samsung’s developer conference in San Francisco, the company called Bixby 2.0 “a fundamental leap forward for digital assistants” and a “bold reinvention of the platform.”
As for the improvements, Samsung says Bixby will be “more personal, with enhanced natural language capabilities for more natural commands and complex processing, so it can really get to know and understand not only who you are, but who members of your family are, and tailor its response and actions appropriately.”
Third-parties invited
The Korean giant says Bixby 2.0 — like Alexa and Assistant — will be open to third-party developers who can choose how users will interact with Bixby across a range of platforms.
Samsung says it’s rolling out the first private beta program from today, with select developers gaining access.
The company added: “Bixby 2.0 will ultimately be a marketplace, for intelligence. A new channel for developers to reach users with their service, not just on mobile devices, but through all devices.”
Do you reckon Bixby’s new approach can top Amazon and Google’s efforts? Share your thoughts @TrustedReviews on Twitter.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
