Samsung to Acquire Viv Labs and its AI Platform
This week has seen a lot of focus on Artificial Intelligence, primarily from Google. While we were excited for the launch of the Pixel, Google’s grand plan involved putting AI at work wherever it could, in the form of Google Assistant.
Not to be left behind, Samsung also seems keen to dip its toes into the AI world. The company has announced that it plans to acquire Viv Labs, which is a startup that focuses AI and providing a platform for AI. The focus of Viv Labs’ recent work is Viv, which is an AI-powered voice assistant that relies heavily on natural language processing. Interestingly, the founders of Viv Labs were the same group of people that worked on Siri before its acquisition by Apple in 2010, and more interestingly, Viv is claimed to be more powerful than Siri. Samsung’s transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, but both parties involved seem to be looking forward to the deal coming through.
Viv is being pitched as an ideal candidate to integrate within Samsung’s home appliance ecosystem wearables and “more”. Viv’s proprietary platform allows virtual assistant interactions to scale, and Samsung’s acquisition gives them the resources to scale. It is unclear how exactly Samsung will put Viv into use: whether it will be restricted to its proprietary ecosystem like Tizen, or whether it will also make its way to TouchWiz or perhaps Android in general.
AI improves the more people use it, and how Samsung markets and puts Viv into use could give us an important and competitive alternative to virtual assistants like Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri and Google’s Assistant. Samsung’s hardware ecosystem in the form of household appliances beyond smartphones also gives them a very unique position for making proper use of a personal assistant to make lives easier and simpler. One thing is certain: at this point, anything is better than S Voice.
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