Technologies

Samsung Can Now Create an AI Copy of Your Voice to Answer Calls

It’s only available in Korean for now as part of Samsung’s Bixby Text Call feature for the Galaxy S23 lineup.

Can’t answer the phone? Samsung wants to help by letting you create a replica of your voice using artificial intelligence.

The feature is only available in Korean and is part of Samsung’s Bixby Text Call service, which lets you answer a call by typing a text message instead. Samsung plans to release the voice creator tool in English later this year, a Samsung spokesperson said to CNET via email. The announcement comes after Google has used the Google Assistant to automate certain parts of the phone-calling experience. It also arrives amid a surge in interest in AI-generated content, thanks to the rise of ChatGPT.

To be clear, Samsung’s new feature is not an AI clone that answers calls entirely on your behalf. Instead, Bixby Text Call lets you type a text message to answer a phone call at times when it may not be appropriate to do so verbally. Bixby then converts your typed text to audio for the recipient.

That feature was announced last year as part of Samsung’s One UI 5 update and just became available in English after debuting in Korean. Now Samsung is launching the Bixby Custom Voice Creator for the Galaxy S23 lineup to let users record sentences that the Bixby assistant can analyze to copy their voice and tone. Samsung is positioning this as a means to customize the way Bixby Text Call converts text into audio during a call.

When the Bixby Custom Voice Creator’s AI-generated voice answers a phone call, it will let the caller know that Bixby is answering the call rather than the user, Samsung said. When asked whether Samsung has safeguards in place to prevent someone else from creating a copy of your voice through a recording, Samsung said users will need to read specific sentences to generate the custom voice.

Bixby’s text-to-speech transcription process takes place on the device itself rather than in the cloud, Samsung said when announcing Bixby Text Call last year. Audio is also deleted right after the recognition process takes place, according to the company.

Samsung said in Wednesday’s press release that this AI-generated voice will eventually be compatible with «other Samsung apps beyond phone calls,» although it didn’t say which ones. When pressed for specifics, Samsung said more details will be announced in the future.

Samsung is broadening Bixby’s functionality after Google in recent years rolled out a suite of features designed to make the phone calling experience more convenient. Its Direct My Call tool, for example, uses the Google Assistant to transcribe automated phone menus. Google updated this feature with the launch of the Pixel 7 last year.

At the same time, there’s been a deeper interest in how AI-generated content can be used in everyday tasks, resulting from the popularity of ChatGPT, the online chatbot from OpenAI that launched in late 2022. Microsoft recently incorporated the technology behind ChatGPT into its Bing search engine, which is currently available in a limited preview, to provide more conversational results. Google also announced its own ChatGPT rival called Bard.

Editors’ note: CNET is using an AI engine to create some personal finance explainers that are edited and fact-checked by our editors. For more, see this post.

Technologies

Xbox Game Pass Adds Grounded 2 and Others This Month

Game Pass subscribers will also be able to play the new 90s-inspired horror game Abiotic Factor.

The award-winning, quirky survival game Grounded is like the game version of the classic ’80s comedy film Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. And Xbox Game Pass subscribers can get early access to that game’s sequel, Grounded 2, on July 29.

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, a CNET Editors’ Choice award pick, offers hundreds of games you can play on your Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One and PC or mobile device for $20 a month. A subscription gives you access to a large library of games, with new ones, including Doom: The Dark Ages, added monthly, plus other benefits such as online multiplayer and deals on non-Game Pass titles.

Here are the games Microsoft is bringing to Game Pass soon. You can also check out other games the company added to the service recently, like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4.

RoboCop: Rogue City

Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass and Game Pass Standard subscribers can play now.

Serve the public, protect the innocent and uphold the law as the cyborg RoboCop. You’ll investigate crimes in Old Detroit before using your cyborg strength, cybernetic implants and arsenal of weapons to eradicate gangs from the area. This game is a whole new RoboCop story based on the film series, and Peter Weller, the original RoboCop himself, returns to voice the titular character.

My Friendly Neighborhood

Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers can play now.

Something’s going on with everyone’s favorite Saturday morning puppet show, and it’s up to you to figure out what in this survival horror game. You’ll solve puzzles and use tools and improvised weapons to fend off your multicolored foes. So if you have anything against Barney or Big Bird, you can take out your feelings on them with this game.

Back to the Dawn

Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers can play now.

This game is like if the series Prison Break took place in the Zootopia universe. You’ll play as either a fox named Thomas or a black panther named Bob as they try to navigate the prison system and escape with their lives. With multiple escape routes and over 100 quests you can complete, you can replay this game numerous times and have a different experience each time.

Abiotic Factor

Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers can play on July 22.

Science meets violence in this 1990s-inspired sci-fi survival game. You and up to five other players can choose your areas of expertise, build your scientist and explore a massive, top-secret underground complex filled with artifacts and supernatural horrors that could tear you limb from limb. And remember, safety, security and secrecy are of the utmost importance… usually.

Wheel World

Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers can play on July 23.

If you want to take a nice, relaxing bike ride, this game is for you. Previously known as Ghost Bike, this game puts you behind the handlebars of one of the last ghost bikes around. These bikes can traverse between the lands of the living and the dead. You can explore these lands at your leisure while you race other riders and upgrade your ride with treasures you find along the way.

Wuchang: Fallen Feathers

Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers can play on July 24.

This souls-like RPG is set during the final days of the Ming Dynasty. You play as an amnesiac pirate warrior named Wuchang on a quest to uncover the truth behind a world full of chaos. You’ll fight monstrous creatures in forgotten temples and overgrown ruins, unlock new weapons and master devastating techniques in order to bring peace to yourself and others.

Grounded 2 (game preview)

Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers can play on July 29.

You’ve been shrunk to the size of an ant — again — and you’ll have to survive the dangerous, miniature world. You’ll fight spiders and wasps, craft weapons and homes and even ride on your own insect friends to get around. You’ll unravel new mysteries along the way, but be careful. Something else is out there, and it hasn’t forgotten about you.

Farming Simulator 25

Game Pass Ultimate, PC Game Pass and Game Pass Standard subscribers can play on Aug. 1.

Farming isn’t always as simple as games like Stardew Valley might make it out to be, but it can still be very rewarding. If you want a taste of what goes into building and maintaining your own farm, give Farming Simulator 25 a try. You’ll grow diverse crops, raise different animals and with the weather-changing, ground-deforming atmosphere, you’ll face all kinds of challenges along the way.

Games leaving Game Pass on July 31

While Microsoft is adding those games to Game Pass soon, it’s also removing three other games on July 31. So you still have some time to finish your campaign or complete any side quests before you have to buy these games separately.

Gigantic: Rampage Edition
Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess
Turnip Boy Robs a Bank

For more on Xbox, discover other games available on Game Pass now, read our hands-on review of the gaming service and learn which Game Pass plan is right for you. You can also check out what to know about upcoming Xbox game price hikes.