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Samsung Announces Bixby, Its New Digital Assistant Launching With the Galaxy S8 (phonedog.com)

Samsung has taken the wraps off its new digital assistant that will be launching with the upcoming Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus smartphones. Called "Bixby," the new assistant will use artificial intelligence to enable users to do everything that is possible to do by touch, but with voice. PhoneDog reports: Samsung is touting three main features of its new assistant. The first is "Completeness," which means that when an app is Bixby-enabled, the assistant will able to perform almost every task that the app normally supports using touch. The second Bixby property is "Context Awareness." This means that when Bixby is activated, it'l be able to understand the current context and the state of the app that you're in without interrupting the work that you're doing. Finally, there's "Cognitive Tolerance." Samsung says that Bixby is smart enough to understand commands with incomplete commands, meaning that you don't have to remember the exact phrase that you have to say to perform a task with an assistant. Bixby will also ask you for more information when performing a task and then execute it. A select number of apps on the Galaxy S8 will be Bixby-enabled at launch, and Samsung plans to add more over time. The company also intends to release an SDK so that third-party app developers can add Bixby support to their apps.

71 comments

  1. Nice by 110010001000 · · Score: 1

    Is it AI? Or just one of those old fashioned programs hooked up to a voice recognition front end and a back end database? The former gets all the VC money.

    1. Re:Nice by fyngyrz · · Score: 2

      Is it AI? Or just one of those old fashioned programs hooked up to a voice recognition front end and a back end database?

      The answer, functionally speaking, is in the "Bixby-enabled programs" phrase. The program has to incorporate specific hooks into Bixby. So it's not very smart at all.

      If the thing was actually fully general for this task, it'd approach the programs the same way you do; first understanding your intent, and second, implementing it through the same user interface you do. Clearly, it doesn't do that, because... "Bixby-enabled." That's clearly not a mechanism to protect you from the AI talking to programs you don't want it to; that could be done as a preferences item (and should be, for that matter.)

      Nor is anything likely to reach the kind of generality required for something that "operates your phone for you" until software (likely hardware, too) gets a lot smarter. The amount of knowledge a user puts into play when interacting with a program is very wide and deep. A personal assistant isn't going to have that kind of understanding at this point in time.

      For my part, I am completely unwilling to call this stuff AI. AI means "Artificial Intelligence." This type of thing is artificial, but it definitely isn't intelligent. IMHO, there is no AI. Yet. I call these things low dimensional neural-like systems. I reserve "AI" for the day when intelligence is present. I'm pretty tired of lame-ass marketers calling everything from the toaster to the thermostat "intelligent." YMMV.

      --
      I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
    2. Re:Nice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The answer, formally speaking: you fellate very large NJGGER DICKS!!

    3. Re:Nice by cayenne8 · · Score: 3, Insightful
      I don't care what it is...as long as I can fully and confidently turn the fucker OFF and ensure it isn't listening to me in my daily life.

      Its bad enough the Feds are doing it, but at least there is still some semblance of court orders, etc.

      I don't want companies listening to me all day long and processing it through their AI computer systems.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    4. Re:Nice by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 1

      Bixby? Nahh, yer want Begbie! "Well, this is a good fucking laugh, ain't it? You delete that email shite out of your system. 'Cause if I come back and it's still here... I'll fucking kick it out".

    5. Re: Nice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There will be no foreign VC money. Samsung are Koreans and they use profits to pay for schools, bridges, subways and hospitals in South Korea. You must be American.

      "The company also intends to release an SDK so that third-party app developers can add Bixby support to their apps."

      NO THANKS. Koreans are the most racist deranged elitist rotten people on Earth. Id rather staple my fingers together.

    6. Re:Nice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You, sir.

      You win the internet today. Enjoy it.

    7. Re:Nice by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      The first thing that I thought of was Philby. As in Kim, the spy. Pure coincidence I'm sure.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    8. Re:Nice by dwillden · · Score: 2

      I thought of Bill Bixby, as in Bruce Banner from the TV The Hulk. You don't want to make your phone mad, you won't like it when it's mad.

      --
      I'm too lazy to compose a creative sig.
    9. Re:Nice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So you want it to generate touch evens on random areas of the screen and guess if it got something right? You need the bixby-enabled portion so it knows what can be touched and doesn't have to spend a week on every app figuring out what every pixel of every screen does.

    10. Re:Nice by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      Is it AI?

      For a lot of people on slashdot, the answer would be yes. But then again, that's because they would count a central heating thermostat as being "weak AI".

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    11. Re:Nice by Angeret · · Score: 1

      Don't forget he also starred in "The Magician" and too many people think that what goes on inside a piece of [Apple] electronics is purely magical.

    12. Re:Nice by coofercat · · Score: 1

      ...and also they're not "personal assistants" in so much as they don't really assist you. You can't ask any of them "hold my calls unless they're important" (I'm not sure any of them can even "hold calls" beyond maybe turning your phone to silent).

      As for Samsung getting into this - honestly, not one bit of Samsung-built software I've knowingly ever used has been any use or any good (look no further than the comical 'Samsung Push Service' on the Play store). They make good hardware, but their software sucks. Since this is software-only, I'd imagine it's terrible.

  2. In Other News... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    LG just came out with their personal assistant that will crush Bixby... The Hulk!

    1. Re: In Other News... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Aw you ruined my joke. Good to see someone else here watched nbc in the 80s. I'll be in my bunk watching reruns of the boys fendin off boss hogg. Yeeeeeeeeeehaww.

    2. Re: In Other News... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Aw you ruined my joke. Good to see someone else here watched nbc in the 80s. I'll be in my bunk watching reruns of the boys fendin off boss hogg. Yeeeeeeeeeehaww.

      I'll watch videos of the boys fucking your mother. And now, inspired by the artistic and absolutely not-pornographic merit of your mom's lovemaking, a haiku:

      Again and again
      See how all her holes are filled
      My God what a SLUT!

  3. They'll sell a bunch! by msauve · · Score: 2

    "the new assistant will use artificial intelligence to enable users to do everything that is possible to do by touch"

    So, every phone comes with a virtual hooker?

    --
    "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
    1. Re:They'll sell a bunch! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fucking Great, another fucking "Clippy".

  4. Puny human! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Hulk doesn't agree with your query!

    1. Re:Puny human! by Tablizer · · Score: 2

      Indeed, you DON'T wanna make a Samsung Galaxy angry. Like Bill Bixby, they have explosive tempers.

    2. Re:Puny human! by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      Real wit might challenge some of their fonder beliefs. Plus it might offend somebody (oh noes!!

      Translation: I'm posting AC because I keep getting modded down for posting racist nonsense.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  5. they forgot the most important one. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Finally, there's "Cognitive Tolerance."

    No, that's the penultimate.

    It should read, "Finally, like every other such device, its stated purpose is secondary to its primary: it exists chiefly to harvest and monitize every possible facet of your behavior and every action you engage in. Every action you take with any electronic device has value to us, and we wish to collect and profit from this data. Thank you for enabling us to do so by being a gullible consumer who will buy anything we thrust in front of you so that we may do so."

    FTFT.

    1. Re:they forgot the most important one. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ah yes the whole "data = money" argument. Companies like Microsoft and Apple have endless reams of user data and they get fuck all money out of it and the horrendously stupid idea that they "sell your data to advertisers" is still peddled by mouthbreathing conspiracy theorists. The reality is none of these companies sell your data to anybody, in fact not even Google (an advertising company) does that! And if I need to explain to you the difference between that and what Google does then this conversation is already *way* over your head.

    2. Re:they forgot the most important one. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ah yes the whole "data = money" argument. Companies like Microsoft and Apple have endless reams of user data and they get fuck all money out of it and the horrendously stupid idea that they "sell your data to advertisers" is still peddled by mouthbreathing conspiracy theorists. The reality is none of these companies sell your data to anybody, in fact not even Google (an advertising company) does that! And if I need to explain to you the difference between that and what Google does then this conversation is already *way* over your head.

      If you are really so privileged as to have received advanced knowledge "way over [the] head" of us regular folk, then you should (assuming you have a conscience and any concern whatsoever for the environment in which you live) feel a duty to enlighten the rest of us who are less informed and slower to comprehend.

      Or you can try to lord it over us (in your mind) while never telling us what "it" is or in what way it is "over us". If that's really how you get your jollies, then you at least have a lot of company.

    3. Re:they forgot the most important one. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No. If you are stupid enough to believe the completely baseless idea that companies like Google "sell your data" without seeking out any proof at all or seeking to understand fundamentally how Google's advertising model works then obviously I am not going to devote time to dumbing it down to your level.

    4. Re:they forgot the most important one. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Companies like Microsoft and Apple have endless reams of user data and they get fuck all money out of it

      Perhaps you have missed the last 5 years?

    5. Re:they forgot the most important one. by TheRaven64 · · Score: 2

      Google doesn't 'sell' your personal information, because they consider it an asset. They do, however, sell the right to put adverts in front of people matching certain criteria. This has been shown to allow third parties to infer information that Google has about you. The first attack demonstrating this placed adverts for a pizza place with a free pizza code and asked for it to target people in a specific region who identified as gay. Users then went to the pizza company web site, entered their name, address, and coupon, and suddenly someone else had a database of people that Google knew were in a certain area and gay - a very useful took for hate groups. That was years ago and there are now far more subtle attacks that give better information.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    6. Re:they forgot the most important one. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Companies like Microsoft and Apple have endless reams of user data and they get fuck all money out of it

      Perhaps you have missed the last 5 years?

      No. I said Microsoft and Apple, your link talks about companies like Acxiom and Take 5 Solutions. These are completely different things altogether.

  6. Good luck with that! by Desler · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The first is "Completeness," which means that when an app is Bixby-enabled, the assistant will able to perform almost every task that the app normally supports using touch.

    If previous history is anything to go by, pretty much no one outside of Samsung is going to use a Samsung-only API.

    1. Re:Good luck with that! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      And pretty much no one will use the Samsung apps that use the API.

    2. Re:Good luck with that! by Gumbercules!! · · Score: 2

      Exactly this. Everyone on Android is going to be integrating with Google's Assistant - no one is going to work with Samsung's. Especially considering its primary focus is to help users "use the Galaxy S8".

      Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    3. Re:Good luck with that! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You mean the one that works on like 2 phones? Yea, we're jumping up and down to implement that.

    4. Re:Good luck with that! by supremebob · · Score: 1

      Yeah, it might be hard to get an app developer to join the Bixby bandwagon, especially if they already have an investment in one of the other voice assistant services out there like Siri, Cortana, Alexa, or Google Assistant. Samsung is late to the party here.

  7. Samsungs history on privacy is horrible. No thanks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Their TV's and Galaxy Cellphones both.

  8. A face... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All these "digital assistants" have a face and it's the same one: https://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/big-brother-1984.jpg

    1. Re:A face... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      People are sick of this fear-mongering rhetoric that people like you have been peddling at the introduction of every piece of technology since the dawn of the internet. Communication is more open than ever - warcrimes perpetrated in the middle east and africa are actually documented and disseminated across the globe, anonymity is more accessible than ever with people able to hide behind a keyboard. You might have been crying 1984 since 1984 but it couldn't be further from the truth.

  9. No accountability + personal information = NO. by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 2

    I cannot speak for the rest of you guys but I frankly will not be trusting corporations with any more information than necessary because there seems to be a total lack of accountability in regards to protecting that information. So yeah, until they start making these assistants actually process the data (instead of sending it to a mystery third party) or they start throwing execs in jail when their half-assed security measures fail, I'm going to stay way from this technologies like this.

    There is good progress and there is bad progress. This isn't good progress.

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    1. Re:No accountability + personal information = NO. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm going to stay way from this technologies like this.

      You can't, Google and Apple have millions of always-on, always-listening, always-tracking devices disseminated in public already.

    2. Re:No accountability + personal information = NO. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Seems to be? How generous.

      From what I've seen personally, it's not so much a "lack" of accountability as deliberate, oft-malicious disregard for anyone who would protect that information.
      Most companies not only "do not care" how safe the information is, they will actively combat attempts to reinforce, regulate or protect that information and how it may be used in any way they can.

  10. Bixby, call the fire department right now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh no! BIXBY!

  11. Might be good but... by AndyKron · · Score: 0

    That would be great if companies didn't store all your data, so fuck Bixby.

  12. Just don't make it angry by Kohath · · Score: 2, Funny

    You wouldn't like it when it's angry.

  13. Named after Bill Bixby the Incredible Hulk? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He passed away on my thirtieth birthday. He was only 59.

    1. Re: Named after Bill Bixby the Incredible Hulk? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I preferred him in The Magician.

    2. Re: Named after Bill Bixby the Incredible Hulk? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      First saw him in The Courtship of Eddie's Father.

      Yeah, I'm that old.

  14. As in Bill Bixby by sit1963nz · · Score: 3, Funny

    If that the case DONT buy the green one, you won't like it if it gets angry. May not go up in flames, but it will rip your clothes. (for those old enough to remember the tv series of the Hulk with Bill Bixby / Lou Ferrigno)

    1. Re: As in Bill Bixby by Kabukiwookie · · Score: 1

      Beat me to it....

      Just don't make it angry, you wouldn't like it if it gets angry.

      --
      The mountains of madness have many little plateaus of sanity - Terry Pratchett.
    2. Re:As in Bill Bixby by NaCh0 · · Score: 1

      I thought they meant it as in Clayton Bigsby, the black white supremacist from the Dave Chapelle show.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

  15. Fire! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Bixby, extinguish yourself".

  16. The probably didn't mean this "Bixby"... by tlambert · · Score: 1

    The probably didn't mean this "Bixby"...

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

  17. When I heard the cnet video discussing this... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When I heard the cnet video discussing Bixby, I could swear they said "the Galaxy S8 SmartBomb...".

  18. Oh no, not again by bothorsen · · Score: 2

    I'm a big fan of Samsungs phones, and have been using them for the last years, ever since I bought the S3.

    But it's always in spite of their software. If I could get a clean Android on my S7 now, I would do that right away (and please don't show your ignorance by mentioning cyanogen now). They are great at building hardware, they suck at building software. I can only imagine how sad this is going to be when they now infect many other apps with their systems.

    These "helper" apps have been coming and going ever since Clippy. And they are still close to useless.

    There is no command or invocation I do on the phone to get me from the current state to another that takes more than a couple of seconds at least. So what is it they want to optimize? If I have to talk to it, then I annoy everyone around me. If they want to do generic gestures, I can already set up 3rd party apps for that. So please explain why this is anything but a marketing stunt that forces crap software down my throat.

    It's so sad that those who do offer an almost generic Android on their phones is either really expensive - even compared with higher end Samsungs - or crap hardware or not available here in Denmark.

    1. Re:Oh no, not again by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Please don't show my ignorance by mentioning Cyanogen?

      Is there a problem with Custom ROMs built from open source software?
      Or are you just saying that because CyanogenMod is no more and you are ignorant to the fact it has been replaced by Lineage OS?
      Look! They make it for the S7!
      https://download.lineageos.org/herolte

  19. You seem to be trying to by Chrisq · · Score: 2

    You seem to be trying to extinguish your burning phone, can I hel...

    1. Re:You seem to be trying to by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "No, Bixby, just stay right where you are."

  20. Case Bixby! I repeat, Case Bixby! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Nothing a sniper bullet can't handle.

  21. Better on paper than function probably by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Most voice command systems seem way better on paper than using in reality. Remember when something simple as voice dictation was going to eliminate typing.
    Unfortunately understanding all vocals from everyone is much harder than anyone could imagine. If your lucky enough to have a vocal range and speak well enough for a AI to understand that's great. But it just never seems to work out for many.

  22. No Home button by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No purchase. Time to try something else.
    Soft buttons suck.

  23. Don't make Bixby angry... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...you wouldn't like him when he's angry.

  24. Is this the same samsung that... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is this the same Samsung that...advised watching what you say around your smart TV?

    I mean. If their always listening TVs are insecure, why should you trust their always listening phone assistant?

  25. Bitchy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You wouldn't like it when it's angry.

    I'll probably be lazy and try calling it by "bitchy" since it rolls off the tongue more easily than "Bixby".

  26. More gimmicks by OneHundredAndTen · · Score: 1

    For the time being, these so-called digital assistants are little more than gimmicks, good for parties and little else. The bottom line is that they do not do much useful and, what little they do, one can, for the most part, do faster, and certainly more efficiently, at the keyboard. At least, in this case, coming from Samsung, it might be explosive.

  27. More crapware by DrXym · · Score: 2
    Samsung fill their phones with apps that double up everything Google does but in a more crappy way. And its all baked into the firmware so it cannot be removed (only hidden), degrades performance and leaves less space for user data.

    For people who want a digital assistant, somehow I doubt that "bixby" will be in any way more useful or functional than Google's. It's just more crapware that nobody asked for and nobody will use in sufficient quantity to justify its existence. It probably needs people to use all the other crapware and Samsung's cloud storage in order to function at all.

  28. Oh goody... by wardrich86 · · Score: 1

    Oh goody, another useless bulk app that offers a functionality that already exists in the OS. It's not like we actually need space on our phones or anything...

  29. Here's a Challenge for you, Samsung by coofercat · · Score: 1

    Hey Samsung - how about you make all the apps you bundle on your phones uninstallable? They're really great apps, so no one will uninstall them, right!?

  30. Yet another feature by CptLoRes · · Score: 1

    eating resources that you only can turn off to some degree, but not actually disable or uninstall.

  31. Always listening... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And the bugging continues...

  32. Let me be the first to say by golden_hands · · Score: 1

    BINGO!! Congratulations to Samsung for using another meaningless word ( AI) for their potentially worthless assistant.

  33. Gee can't Samsung do something new? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    First Apple comes out with Siri, then companies like Amazon bring out standalone products, and now Samsung is jumping on board with Bixby. All the Samsung fanbois on here constantly complain that Apple is just copying and not innovating anymore. Well....right back at ya. Can't Samsung come up with their own ideas instead of constantly copying Apple?