An upgraded version of its voice assistant Bixby this year will be launched by Samsung based on its own artificial intelligence models, the head of the company’s mobile business told CNBC. Digital assistants are back in the limelight thanks to the popularity of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. TM Roh, the head of Samsung’s mobile division quoted that the company will be unveiling a further upgraded Bixby this year that uses the South Korean technology giant’s own large language model or LLM.

Roh further stated that Bixby would be advanced with the help of GenAI technology. Bixby was launched in 2017 on Samsung’s S8 phone. The key features of the voice assistant included live translations and restaurant recommendations. The Bixby vision tool allows a user to use the camera and scan whatever is in front of them and then it will offer information about it.  Samsung for the first time has conveyed a timeline for the launch of Bixby.

Gen AI, or generative AI, refers to artificial intelligence that is able to generate content such as answers to questions or images. An LLM is the AI model, trained on huge amounts of data, that underpins generative AI.

The strategy of allowing multiple voice assistants on its devices will be maintained by Samsung. For example, Google’s own AI assistant is available on Samsung’s latest devices. Roh further confirmed that the up-gradation of Bixby just over a month after Apple announced its assistant Siri will be getting an AI upgrade. Siri will be able to tap into OpenAI’s ChatGPT when needed to answer more queries. The Bixby upgrade is part of Samsung’s broader push to market AI features on its suite of devices.

“We are reinforcing and bringing more AI capabilities to our products,” Roh said further that we are reinforcing and bringing more AI technology to our products as consumers use more AI capabilities, they can actually feel the convenience and benefits they bring.