Samsung’s Galaxy AI features won’t use Google Gemini in China

Ben Schoon | Jan 26 2024 - 8:23 am PT

Samsung’s Galaxy S24 series really isn’t all that different from last year’s lineup, so AI is one of the selling points Samsung is leaning heavily into around the launch. In most of the world, Samsung is using Google’s Gemini models to power Galaxy AI, but that won’t be the case in China.

While “Galaxy AI” is the branding around Samsung’s new features, the company hasn’t been shy about its partnership with Google. The Galaxy S24 series ships with Gemini Nano for on-device AI, and many features use Gemini Pro to process data in the cloud.

But Samsung also sells its Galaxy phones in China, where Google’s services aren’t really an option.

As such, Samsung has apparently turned to Baidu to power Galaxy AI in China. CNBC reports that Baidu’s “Ernie” AI will handle the behind-the-scenes legwork for features like Note Assist and more. Baidu says in a brief statement:

Now featuring Ernie’s understanding and generation capabilities, the upgraded Samsung Note Assistant can translate content and also summarize lengthy content into clear, intelligently organized formats at the click of a button, streamlining the organization of extensive text

Baidu claims that Ernie’s latest release, 4.0, is its most powerful and claims it is as advanced as OpenAI’s GPT-4. Baidu’s ChatGPT rival has 100 million users as of December.