Samsung isn't giving up on Bixby, as it makes its AI assistant more conversational

So you can speak to it in a more natural manner

(Credit: Samsung)

• 🤖 Samsung has updated its Bixby voice assistant to be more conversational

• 🗣️ As part of a new One UI beta update, you can now speak to the assistant as you would to people

• 📱 It is context-aware of your phone’s settings, so it can tailor any device queries based on which settings you have enabled or not

• 🤔 Bixby can now also bring up answers to search queries natively, rather than sending you to a browser, too, thanks to accessing more up-to-date information

It’s easy to forget that Samsung has its own voice assistant, Bixby, but the South Korean brand has updated the assistant to be more conversational.

The latest version of Bixby comes with the new One UI 8.5 beta release, according to a press release, for which Samsung has tweaked it to work as a “conversational agent”.

Samsung says you’ll be able to give the assistant tasks using more natural language – that is, how you’d actually talk to people or even other AI assistants – rather than dealing with it in a more formulaic manner to get it to do exactly as you ask.

The press release goes on to state that you don’t have to remember exact commands or names for settings, but instead describe what you want to happen. Bixby will then do its best to understand what you’ve said and carry out any requests or answer any questions.

The example Samsung provides is for preventing a screen from timing out and going black. As opposed to being too specific, a user could say to Bixby: “I don’t want the screen to time out while I’m still looking at it.” The assistant will then automatically turn on the “Keep Screen on While Viewing” setting.

Likewise, if you ask it a question such as “Why is my phone screen always on when it’s inside my pocket?” the assistant may give you several options to choose from to solve the issue you’re having.

These solutions can also be tailored to the individual user based on their current phone settings, rather than being more generic instructions.

For instance, for the question above, if the user doesn’t have Accidental Touch Protection enabled, Bixby could suggest it as an option for that user. For someone else who may already have it enabled with the same query, it may offer up something else as a solution.

Bixby can now also access new and up-to-date information available on the internet, allowing you to search without a browser, as the assistant can display web search results in its interface.

As it stands, the enhanced Bixby is only available in South Korea, Germany, India, Poland, the UK and the US. Samsung says it’ll be rolling out to more locations in the future, though.

Up next: Samsung has teased some new AI camera features that could be destined for the Galaxy S26

Reece Bithrey is a journalist with bylines for Trusted Reviews, Digital Foundry, PC Gamer, TechRadar and more. He also has his own blog, UNTITLED, and graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in International History and Politics in 2023.