Samsung today announced a major update to its Bixby personal assistant service. Samsung calls Bixby 2.0 a “bold reinvention” of the platform that will be available not only on phones, but other smart devices, such as TVs, refrigerators, and speakers.
Bixby 2.0 will feature enhanced natural language processing for more natural commands and feedback. The assistant will be able to differentiate between multiple users’ voices as well as their individual preferences and settings.
Moreover, Samsung is opening Bixby up to third-party app developers. The company has made a private beta of the Bixby SDK available to select developers to test the platform and explore how it can be put to work in sports, food, entertainment, travel, and other apps. Samsung will slowly allow more developers to access Bixby over time and eventually expects to make the Bixby SDK available to all developers.
“Bixby 2.0 will ultimately be a marketplace, for intelligence,” said Samsung. “A new channel for developers to reach users with their service, not just on mobile devices, but through all devices.”
Bixby launched on the Galaxy S8 and S8+ earlier this year. It goes beyond the simpler types of requests available to Siri and Google Assistant by allowing Samsung smartphone owners to issue intricate commands that control applications.
