Samsung is considering upgrading its Bixby voice assistant with generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology to enhance user interaction, a senior executive revealed to CNBC.

“So Bixby has been a key voice assistants voice assistant for Samsung not just for the mobile devices, but also for TVs and digital appliances that exist in Samsung’s ecosystem. So it has been the core voice assistant assistant so far,” Won-joon Choi, executive vice president at Samsung’s mobile business, told CNBC in an interview last month.

Choi also stated that with the advent of generative AI and large language model (LLM) technology, there’s a need to rethink Bixby’s role. He suggested that equipping Bixby with generative AI would make it smarter and enhance its capabilities. This advancement, he added, would facilitate more natural conversations and support an interface that integrates seamlessly with Samsung’s product ecosystem.

Since its 2017 debut on the Galaxy S8, Bixby has offered various functions across Samsung’s range of devices, including smartphones and home appliances. However, it lacks the conversational abilities of newer chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. With the tech industry moving towards more sophisticated AI features, Samsung aims to improve Bixby’s capabilities, though no specific timeline for these updates was provided. This move aligns with Samsung’s broader strategy to incorporate advanced AI features, such as those seen in its Galaxy S24 series, and comes amid growing interest in how tech giants like Apple will integrate generative AI into their offerings.