Samsung’s New Acquisition Proves AI Is The Next Big Thing In Smartphones

In the smartphone industry, every year sees a new trend becoming the norm. 2017 saw thin bezels becoming a norm and with the launch of the Google Pixel 2 and Apple iPhone X, it appears that AI will be the next big thing in the smartphone industry. With Samsung being the biggest smartphone maker in the world, you’d expect the South Korean tech giant to be one of front-runners in the AI game as well.

A new acquisition by Samsung shows that it wants Bixby to be the new Google Assistant for all its consumers. According to a report, Samsung has just acquired an AI property, Fluenty, a Korean startup notable for its chatbot of the same name.

Founded in 2015, Fluenty company currently develops a dedicated app and a separate “smart reply” API. The app uses machine learning to give custom response to users and is compatible with a number of popular messaging services like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.

This is what the official website of Fluenty says:

Fluenty is able to suggest smart replies that are specific to the person typing them. Let’s say for example that someone likes to say ‘Cheers!’ instead of ‘Bye!’ when closing a conversation. Fluenty is able to pick that up and will suggest it as a way to say goodbye in future messages.

This means that Fluenty uses more than just web searches to customise user experience and adds a personal touch rather just being a robotic assistant.

Bixby could take a few feathers out of Fluenty’s cap thanks to its machine learning capabilities. For example, if you are meeting someone at a bar, Bixby could pull out a Google Map location of the bar and start navigation.

Bixby has not been received very well since it was announced along with Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+. It will be interesting to see how Bixby will incorporate Fluenty’s capabilities and enhance the user experience, and try to replace Google Assistant with Bixby.