Technologies

Samsung Galaxy AI: Everything We Know So Far

Samsung’s Galaxy S24 series will likely be the first devices with Galaxy AI. Here’s what to expect.

Samsung’s new Galaxy phones usually have high-resolution cameras, bright screens and sharp designs. But the rumored Galaxy S24 series, which will likely debut at Samsung’s next Galaxy Unpacked event on Jan. 17, may stand out from its predecessors in a big way. New software features rather than fresh hardware could be the S24’s biggest attraction.

That’s because Samsung is expected to bring more generative AI-powered features to its next major phones. The company recently announced its own AI model, as well as Galaxy AI, a new AI «experience» for mobile devices, and it seems likely these technologies will play a big role in the Galaxy S24.

Generative AI, or AI that can churn out conversational (but not always accurate) answers to prompts based on training data, was everywhere in the tech world in 2023. That applies to smartphones too, especially toward the end of the year, as Google unveiled the Pixel 8 series and Qualcomm and MediaTek introduced new phone chips optimized for AI.

Read more: Best Phone of 2023

Here’s a look at what we know so far about Samsung’s potential AI plans for its next major smartphone release.

What is Galaxy AI?

Samsung's promotional artwork for its AI Live Call Translation feature

We don’t know much about Galaxy AI yet. But Samsung describes it as a «comprehensive mobile AI experience» and «universal intelligence on your phone.» Samsung mentions communication, productivity and creativity as areas where Galaxy AI will show up on its phones, meaning it’s possible we’ll see Galaxy AI features in Samsung apps like phone, messages, S Note and the camera.

But that’s just speculation, we won’t know for sure until Samsung reveals more details. Samsung says Galaxy AI will arrive early next year, which means there’s a good chance it’ll debut with the Galaxy S24 series.

Samsung provided one example of how Galaxy AI will appear in future phones. AI Live Translate Call, which the company says will be available on «the latest Galaxy AI phone,» will provide audio and text translations in real time during phone calls made through Samsung’s native phone app. It sounds similar to the Pixel Live Caption feature currently available on Pixel phones.

Based on Samsung’s press release, it sounds like certain Galaxy AI features would be processed on the device to preserve privacy, while others could be executed in the cloud. AI Live Translate Call is one such example of a feature that would work locally.

AI isn’t new to Samsung phones

A screenshot of the Bixby text call button on an incoming call

Generative AI may be having a moment, but AI has powered many smartphone features for years, particularly voice assistants, language translation apps and photography tools like portrait mode. Samsung has already been ramping up the use of AI in its phones, and its existing efforts could provide a hint at what’s to come with Galaxy AI.

In early 2023, Samsung upgraded its Bixby voice-enabled helper with a few new tricks, such as the ability to have it blend traditional phone calls with texting through Bixby Text Call. As the name implies, it allows you to answer a call and carry out a conversation via texting while the caller speaks verbally, with Bixby acting as the intermediary.

You can even clone your voice to make Bixby sound like you when it reads your texts to the caller. Samsung also expanded Bixby’s offline functionality with support for certain commands without an internet connection, such as setting a timer or activating the flashlight.

Read more: Best Samsung Phone of 2023

Samsung’s description of Galaxy AI sounds a bit like a supercharged, updated version of Bixby. And Bixby’s recent direction feels aligned with where Galaxy AI could be going, especially with features like Bixby Text Call. But given that Samsung has broadened Bixby’s role in its smart home platform, it seems unlikely that Galaxy AI would wholly replace the company’s 6-year-old voice assistant.

Instead, I could see Galaxy AI serving as an umbrella term for various AI-powered phone features, including those that work through Bixby. Or maybe it’ll be a rebrand of Bixby’s phone-centric features. We’ll know for sure when Samsung has more to say.

An AI-centric processor for the Galaxy S24

The Galaxy S24 will likely have a new chip to fuel Galaxy AI and other similar features. Samsung typically puts the latest Qualcomm chip in the version of its Galaxy S phones sold in certain markets, like the US, while its Exynos processors power other international models.

If the Galaxy S24 is indeed powered by Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, it should be well equipped to handle plenty of AI tasks. When Qualcomm announced the chip in October, it emphasized its ability to run AI models and perform AI actions both locally on the device and in the cloud.

Qualcomm showed off various use cases for AI on smartphones during its Snapdragon Summit in October, including a virtual assistant that can summarize phone calls and provide notes and suggestions afterward. The chip can also «zoom out» on photos that have already been captured, by analyzing the photo to fill the frame. But of course, it’s up to phone-makers like Samsung to put the technology to use in their own devices.

Samsung’s new Exynos 2400 mobile chip was also designed with AI in mind, with the company claiming it offers a nearly 15-times improvement in AI performance over the older Exynos 2200 processor. Samsung also demonstrated how the new chip can enable text-to-image generation, during its LSI Tech Day event in October, according to the company’s press release.

Read more: I Could’ve Used Qualcomm’s ChatGPT-Like Phone AI on My Trip to Hawaii

Based on these new chips, it sounds like both the Qualcomm and Exynos versions of Samsung’s next phones could share the same AI features. Since these processors are optimized for AI tasks, there’s also a chance Galaxy AI could be exclusive to the Galaxy S24 lineup — similar to how certain Pixel features work only on the Pixel 8 Pro or other devices running on Google’s Tensor chips. However, Samsung regularly releases new software features through its One UI updates, so it’s possible certain AI features that don’t require on-device processing could trickle down to older devices.

There’s a lot of hype around generative AI, and Samsung is known for integrating new technologies into its products early — sometimes while it’s still figuring out whether they’re truly valuable to the overall experience. Remember the Galaxy S4’s eye tracking features? What about the Galaxy Note Edge’s curved sidebar?

The good news is that gimmicky features like these no longer define Samsung’s approach to smartphones, as evidenced by its simpler approach to the Galaxy S series in recent years and the success of its foldable phones. But 2024 will still be the year in which AI has to prove its purpose on smartphones, and it looks like that will start with Samsung.

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Technologies

Google races to put Gemini at the center of Android before Apple’s AI reboot

Google is using its latest Android rollout to position Gemini as the AI layer across phones, Chrome, laptops and cars.

Google is using its latest Android rollout to make Gemini less of a chatbot and more of an operating layer across the phone, browser, car and laptop, just weeks before Apple is expected to show its own Gemini-powered Apple Intelligence reboot at WWDC.
Ahead of its Google I/O developer conference next week, the company previewed a number of Android updates, including AI-powered app automation, a smarter version of Chrome on Android, new tools for creators, a redesigned Android Auto experience, and a sweeping set of new security features.
Alphabet is counting on Gemini to help Google compete directly with OpenAI and Anthropic in the market for artificial intelligence models and services, while also serving as the AI backbone across its expansive portfolio of products, including Android. Meanwhile, Gemini is powering part of Apple’s new AI strategy, giving Google a role in the iPhone maker’s reset even as it races to prove its own version of personal AI on the phone is further along.
Sameer Samat, who oversees Google’s Android ecosystem, told CNBC that Google is rebuilding parts of Android around Gemini Intelligence to help users complete everyday tasks more easily.
“We’re transitioning from an operating system to an intelligence system,” he said.
As part of Tuesday’s announcements. Google said Gemini Intelligence will be able to move across apps, understand what’s on the screen and complete tasks that would normally require a user to jump between multiple services. That means Android is moving beyond the traditional assistant model, where users ask a question and get an answer, and acting more like an agent.
For instance, Google says Gemini can pull relevant information from Gmail, build shopping carts and book reservations. Samat gave the example of asking Gemini to look at the guest list for a barbecue, build a menu, add ingredients to an Instacart list and return for approval before checkout.
A big concern surrounding agentic AI involves software taking action on a user’s behalf without permissions. Samat said Gemini will come back to the user before completing a transaction, adding, “the human is always in the loop.”
Four months after announcing its Gemini deal with Google, Apple is under pressure to show a more capable version of Apple Intelligence, which has been a relative laggard on the market. Apple has long framed privacy, hardware integration and control of the user experience as its advantages.
Google’s Android push is designed to show it can bring AI deeper into the device experience while still giving users control over what Gemini can see, where it can act and when it needs confirmation.
The app automation features will roll out in waves, starting with the latest Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel phones this summer, before expanding across more Android devices, including watches, cars, glasses and laptops later this year.
The company is also redesigning Android Auto around Gemini, turning the car into another major surface for its assistant. Android Auto is in more than 250 million cars, and Google says the new release includes its biggest maps update in a decade and Gemini-powered help with tasks like ordering dinner while driving.
Alphabet’s AI strategy has been embraced by Wall Street, which has pushed the company’s stock price up more than 140% in the past year, compared to Apple’s roughly 40% gain. Investors now want to see how Gemini can become more central to the products people use every day.
WATCH: Alphabet briefly tops Nvidia after report of $200 billion Anthropic cloud deal

Technologies

Waymo recalls 3,800 robotaxis after glitch allowed some vehicles to ‘drive into standing water’

Waymo issued a voluntary recall of about 3,800 of its robotaxis to fix software issues that could allow them to drive into flooded roadways.

Waymo is recalling about 3,800 robotaxis in the U.S. to fix software issues that could allow them to “drive onto a flooded roadway,” according to a letter on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s website.
The voluntary recall is for Waymo vehicles that use the company’s fifth and sixth generation automated driving systems (or ADS), the U.S. auto safety regulator said in the letter posted Tuesday.
Waymo autonomous vehicles in Austin, Texas, were seen on camera driving onto a flooded street and stalling, requiring other drivers to navigate around them. It’s the latest example of a safety-related issue for the Alphabet-owned AV unit that’s rapidly bolstering its fleet of vehicles and entering new U.S. markets.
Waymo has drawn criticism for its vehicles failing to yield to school buses in Austin, and for the performance of its vehicles during widespread power outages in San Francisco in December, when robotaxis halted in traffic, causing gridlock.
The company said in a statement on Tuesday that it’s “identified an area of improvement regarding untraversable flooded lanes specific to higher-speed roadways,” and opted to file a “voluntary software recall” with the NHTSA.
“Waymo provides over half a million trips every week in some of the most challenging driving environments across the U.S., and safety is our primary priority,” the company said.
Waymo added that it’s working on “additional software safeguards” and has put “mitigations” in place, limiting where its robotaxis operate during extreme weather, so that they avoid “areas where flash flooding might occur” in periods of intense rain.
WATCH: Waymo launches new autonomous system in Chinese-made vehicle

Technologies

Qualcomm tumbles 13% as semiconductor stocks retreat from historic AI-fueled surge

Semiconductor equities reversed sharply after a broad AI-driven advance, with Qualcomm suffering its worst day since 2020 amid inflation concerns and rising oil prices.

Semiconductor stocks fell sharply on Tuesday, reversing course after an extensive rally that had expanded the artificial intelligence investment theme well past Nvidia and driven the industry to unprecedented levels.

Qualcomm plunged 13% and was on track for its steepest single-day decline since 2020. Intel shed 8%, while On Semiconductor and Skyworks Solutions each lost more than 6%. The iShares Semiconductor ETF, which benchmarks the overall sector, fell 5%.

The sell-off came after a key gauge of consumer prices came in above forecasts, and as conflict in Iran pushed crude oil higher—prompting investors to shift away from riskier assets.

The preceding advance had widened the AI opportunity set beyond longtime industry leader Nvidia, which for much of the past several years had largely carried the market to new peaks on its own.

Explosive appetite for central processing units, along with the graphics processing units that power large language models, has sent chipmakers to all-time highs.

Market participants are wagering that the shift from AI model training to autonomous agents will lift demand for additional AI hardware. Among the beneficiaries are memory chip producers, which are raising prices as supply remains tight.

Micron Technology slid 6%, and Sandisk cratered 8%. Sandisk’s stock has surged more than six times over since January.