Samsung debuts AI-powered ‘Next-generation Bixby,’ but you can’t use it yet [Gallery]

Ben Schoon | Nov 6 2024 - 8:59 am PT

After teasing its arrival earlier this year, Samsung has just launched “Next-generation Bixby” for Galaxy devices, but it’s not available to all users just yet.

When Samsung launched its Galaxy AI suite of features earlier this year, the company left out Bixby in all of the updates. The voice assistant wasn’t dead, and even got a UI redesign, but there wasn’t much new. In July, Samsung confirmed plans to give Bixby an AI revamp, but didn’t say when that would be coming.

But, now, the new Bixby has quietly arrived.

Alongside the launch of the Galaxy W25 in China (via SamMobile), the company’s region-exclusive variant of the Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition, Samsung has introduced “Next-generation Bixby.” The new AI-powered assistant will be available with the Galaxy W25 and W25 Flip in China and brings some new features along with it.

Samsung details four key new abilities of this updated Bixby, starting with the ability to pull video into requests. Samsung gives the example of adding videos to text responses when asking for travel tips. There’s also a new feature that allows Bixby to translate web pages.

Samsung also says that the new Bixby will be able to leverage AI to understand “complex user intentions.” While the translation from Samsung’s website in China makes it a little difficult to understand what this feature is, it appears to simply be natural-language input.

Similar to that, Samsung says this new version will be able to better understand instructions in context, as well as being able to use content on screen.

Perhaps the biggest feature here is generative AI being applied to office documents, with Bixby apparently being able to generate word documents and slideshows based on user prompts.

There’s no word on when this “Next-generation Bixby” may arrive outside of China, but it seems entirely possible that this is one of Samsung’s big plans for One UI 7 which is scheduled to debut in early 2025.