At a recent roundtable event in Paris, we had a chance to sit down with Samsung’s artificial intelligence bigwig, Jisun Park, Corporate Executive Vice President of AI to discuss Galaxy AI so far, its features, and how the company plans to take it to the next level.
Samsung tips Galaxy AI to be the next big thing for smartphones, potentially changing how we interact with them at a fundamental level. While this scenario is still a ways off, things are moving fast.
Launching alongside the Samsung Galaxy S24 phones earlier this year, Galaxy AI enables on-device language translation, generative AI text and image editing, and more. The platform has since expanded to many of Samsung’s previous phones, going as far back as the Galaxy S22 series.
Galaxy AI so far
After launching Galaxy AI in January, Samsung expects it to be in 200 million devices by the close of 2024. And with language translation as one of its core features, Park says that we’ll be seeing this expand from 16 to 20 languages supported by the end of the year.
Park also sees Galaxy AI expanding to other devices as well, not just phones. For example, given the small interface on Galaxy Watches, AI makes it much easier to interact with them, from natural voice commands to suggesting replies to messages to interpreting health and activity data in more meaningful ways.
The new Galaxy Buds 3 Pro leans on AI and Machine Learning to evaluate your surroundings and adapt the level of noise cancellation, while at the same time letting through important sounds like a siren or when you start up a conversation.
The upcoming Galaxy Ring also opens up AI potential by combining sleep and activity data to create a meaningful picture of your state of health.
Most popular Galaxy AI features
Samsung’s Galaxy AI is actually a combination of different tools in your smartphone’s apps and operating system (and I spent a fair amount of time finding and using them). Since its launch, Jisun Park says that the most commonly used features include Photo Assist, Live Translate, and Google’s Circle to Search.
This is consistent with what Samsung Australia’s mobile boss told us last month. 80% of Australian Galaxy S24 users take advantage of the Galaxy AI features each month, indicating a high level of adoption.
For those unfamiliar, Circle to Search uses AI to look for information about whatever you draw a circle around on your phone’s screen.
Photo Assist uses Generative AI to remove objects in your photos or extend your background, as well as making suggestions to tune up your photo’s levels.
Live Translate is as it sounds, and it helps you communicate in ‘near’ real-time with someone. It can even translate the person on the other end of a phone call.
Park added that his favourite Galaxy AI feature was the Sketch to Image tool, which helped “convert my poor drawing into a better one”.
Hybrid AI
Samsung plans to continue its “hybrid AI” model, which means that some of the ‘thinking’ is done on the device itself, while other tasks are sent to the cloud to be handled by large server farms.
Also, Galaxy AI will continue to partner with Google’s Gemini AI into the foreseeable future. Park also sees the ability to add in a specialized AI from a partner as a way of differentiating Galaxy AI from others, however, this model is similar to Apple’s AI, which will also rely on a third party for some tasks, only this time the partner is Open AI’s ChatGPT.
On the downside, sending your AI tasks to the cloud or sharing with other AI providers means that there isn’t as tight a control over your personal information compared to keeping it entirely on the device, but even the latest phones are not capable of this yet.
Responsible AI
With the rise of AI, there are growing concerns about some of the dangers including privacy, bias and the accuracy of information. Jisun Park says that Galaxy AI is “responsible AI” and Samsung works closely with Google to ensure that there are proper safety measures in place. This includes:
- Defining limits to ensure appropriate image generation
- The use of on-device AI to ensure data never leaves the device
- Adding a watermark to creative work to indicate that AI has been used
- Not using any user data to train Galaxy AI
Will we need to pay for Galaxy AI features?
A popular question for AI on our phones is if it’s going to remain free of charge. Jisun Park reiterated that Galaxy AI would remain free to use until the end of 2025. At that point, Samsung will assess how things are going. However, Park explained that there was no plan to charge for AI features after 2025 but “…will make the decision after more data points are available”.
Given the costs of supporting AI including developing new features and licensing Google for the use of its Gemini AI, it’s hard not to think that there will need to be some revenue paths available. This could take the form of a basic set of AI features available on phones for free, and then a subscription tier for more advanced features. Google has already gone down that path, providing Gemini Advanced features for a $32.99 monthly subscription.
What about the phones?
When asked about why Galaxy AI won’t work on older or less expensive devices like Samsung’s A series, Park said that it would work on the earlier Galaxy S22, but the A series was too constrained in terms of memory and audio characteristics, so it’s not just an AI-specialised chip that’s needed.
Will we need to upgrade our phones more often?
When asked if AI will shorten the life of our phones, Park acknowledged that “AI is developing too fast, and it was difficult to predict.”
Park explained that Galaxy AI features would become part of the seven years of free software updates that come with Samsung phones, so the AI features should be available for the lifetime of the device. However, this is assuming that your phone has the hardware to support the features in the update, so some may not work as your phone ages.
What we do know is that the more powerful a phone is, the more AI capabilities it will support, so this will likely drive the upgrade cycle in the years to come.
Why foldables?
It was interesting to note that the new Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6 get a few exclusive Galaxy AI capabilities. Park said he liked foldables because the larger screens provided an opportunity for new features. For example, the Interpreter feature on the Fold 6 relies on the large outer screen to display translated text, which is something that non-foldable phones can’t do.
Does AI hurt battery life?
One would think that the additional processing power required for AI ‘thinking’ might sap a phone’s battery life. However, Park mentioned that “AI is not consuming significant battery life”, but Samsung still aims to minimize consumption and to “manage it properly”.
AI Competition
And what of the AI competition? Apple has revealed its Apple Intelligence AI, which will be available on iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models due out in September. Other Android phone manufacturers will have their own versions to compete too, including Motorola’s Moto AI, and of course, Google’s own AI for its Pixel Phones, which today shares many features with Galaxy AI. We’ll learn more about the latest Google AI iteration with the Pixel 9 launch, and its exclusive features, in the coming weeks.
Park says that Galaxy AI has a healthy lead with over a billion Samsung mobile devices in the market right now, some of which will be able to run a version of Galaxy AI, and that this can be expanded provided the device can support it. He also explained that future Galaxy AI experiences will remain competitive, although didn’t offer insight into what form this might take.
One thing that’s clear is that AI features will become a key selling point for the phone you decide to put in your pocket.
As for the biggest problem facing AI technology’s next step?
According to Park, it’s “deciding on new AI features to include and ensuring responsible AI in terms of safety, privacy and accountability”.
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Valens Quinn attended the Samsung UnPacked Event in Paris as a guest of Samsung Australia.
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