AI Platform Integration
Information technology (IT) companies are stepping up efforts to forge alliances by combining their artificial intelligence (AI) platforms or through collaboration. This is because they understand that it is difficult to expand their influence by sticking to their own ways only.
Microsoft and Amazon have integrated their AI platforms. Samsung Electronics also plans to step up efforts to expand its AI platform “New Bixby.”
Samsung Electronics will begin to build a Bixby group via the Samsung Developer Conference (SDC) to be held in San Francisco this November. The company announced on November 19 that it would hold the SDC for two days from November 7 to 8. It has sent invitations to major global developers. The main theme is New Bixby, which is in the final stage of development. New Bixby is also a main service connected to the Galaxy Note 9 and then to the AI speaker Galaxy Home that Samsung Electronics will release at the end of this year. Samsung Electronics will release the software development kit (SDK) for New Bixby during the conference.
Samsung Electronics emphasizes a direction connection to third-party services as the biggest weapon of Bixby. The company will develop the AI assistant service so that users will be able to control contents such as music and video and reserve tickets for performances with voices only. Samsung Electronics' Wireless Business Division and AI Strategy Group are negotiating service interworking with at least dozens of external developers. It is highly likely that Samsung Electronics will release a development kit that can work with Bixby and an organized AI group at the SDC.
“In November, we will release both the application program interface (API) and the software development kit for Bixby at the SDC. We have conducted beta tests of about 800 applications,” said Ko Dong-jin, president of the Wireless Business Division at Samsung Electronics in a meeting with reporters in New York of the US on August 10 (local time). "The Galaxy Home will become an important device that will accompany a long journey of the New Bixby platform."
In the IT industry, industry watchers say that leading IT companies will form alliances as Microsoft and Amazon integrated their AI platforms. Microsoft and Amazon agreed to integrate their AI assistants -- Cotana and Alexa -- on August 15. Microsoft’s AI solution has a strong schedule management function while Amazon’s AI solution excels at shopping services. So the two solutions complemented each other.
Those who use the Amazon Echo can say, "Alexa, start Cotana," then they can use Microsoft's AI assistant Cotana. Latecomer Microsoft will be able to employ a win-win strategy in the market with support from Amazon's Alexa.
In the case of LG Electronics, the company has developed an AI platform called "Deep ThinQ" and is collaborating with Google, Amazon and Naver among others.