Samsung entered the world of artificial intelligence with the launch of Bixby. Bixby was announced back in March and is currently available in 200 countries with over 10 million registered users. The AI assistant’s entrance was grand but its journey has been filled with hurdles leaving it behind the competition. Samsung has now launched Bixby 2.0 which comes with a big upgrade as it will control the company’s smart products.

Announced at the Samsung Developer Conference (SDC) 2017 in San Francisco, Samsung says that “Bixby 2.0 will be ubiquitous, available on any and all devices”. Like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, Bixby 2.0 will be the hub for a smart home ecosystem. You will be able to use Bixby 2.0 to control devices including smartphones, TVs, refrigerators, home speakers, among others.

Bixby 2.0 is said to be equipped with more “natural language capabilities” which will enable to function not only for a single person but an entire family. According to each member’s usage of Bixby 2.0, the AI assistant will configure its response and actions. Samsung is really expanding its platform for Bixby 2.0, as it won’t be limited only to the company’s products. 

Developers will be able to use Bixby 2.0 and create applications for different services in fields like sports, food, entertainment, travel, among others. As of now, Bixby SDK will be available for select developers. Samsung will eventually make the Bixby SDK open for all developers. Samsung also showcased Project Ambience which is a small dongle or chip that enables Bixby’s functionalities on different products.

In addition to Bixby 2.0, Samsung also announced a common IoT platform, SmartThingsCloud. Under this, Samsung’s existing IoT services like SmartThings, SamsungConnect, and ARTIK will be grouped together for seamless connectivity. Samsung also partnered with Google for developers to use the ARCore SDK to develop AR apps and services for the Galaxy S8 duo, and the Galaxy Note 8.

After a long wait, Samsung has finally rolled out Bixby Voice in India. Samsung Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+, and Galaxy Note 8 users in India can use Bixby’s prime feature Voice in US English. In line with the company’s Make in India initiative, Samsung has also developed Bixby to understand different Indian accents. You can launch Bixby by pressing its button or simply say “Hi, Bixby”.

As with other virtual assistants such as Google Assistant, Siri, or Amazon Alexa, you can ask Bixby to perform certain tasks on your smartphones. Bixby also comes with Quick Commands which allows you to create custom commands for certain actions. For example, you can set “Good Night” command for a couple of tasks such as turning on the Do-not-disturb mode, setting an alarm, or turning on the blue light filter.

You can also use Bixby’s voice command to click a photo, take your selfie or capture a screenshot. In addition to this, you can also use Bixby to upload your last captured photo with a caption on social media platforms such as Facebook or Twitter. The final decision to post the selected photo will be up to you. Other than this, you can also command Bixby to send messages on apps such as Messenger and WhatsApp. In addition, you can also use Bixby to download apps from Google Play Store. 

Although Samsung managed to garner a lot of interest around Bixby, its official launch took a long time. At the time of its launch, Bixby voice was not available even in South Korea. After much effort, Samsung rolled out Bixby Voice in South Korea and the US in June and July, respectively. Later in August, Bixby Voice was rolled out in 200 countries globally. Even so, Bixby Voice is currently available in Korean and US English languages only. Samsung promises updating more languages by this year.