Smartphone era transitioning into 'AI Phone' phase: Samsung

Bangalore, Aug 27 (PTI) The smartphone phase is giving way to the 'AI Phone' era, which will change the way users interact with devices by leveraging artificial intelligence, a top Samsung official said on Wednesday.

Samsung Research Institute-Bengaluru (SRI-B) Managing Director Mohan Rao Goli told reporters that AI has already transformed the use of cameras and now calls by eliminating language barriers.

He said that artificial intelligence (AI) technology has to be personalised to each individual based on his or her needs, and Samsung is focusing in a similar direction.

"We are also moving the needle from the smartphone era to the AI phone era. This requires a new platform. The Galaxy AI platform is very basic to bring it to the AI phone era. AI is becoming the new user interface for consumers. It is not like the touch-and-go. It is about the new way to interact with these devices," Goli said.

SRI-B is Samsung's second-largest research unit after South Korea.

Goli said Samsung has enabled real-time translation-based conversation using AI under the Galaxy AI platform.

"It is close to the real time, for example, my friend is speaking in French, the way he is speaking in French, whatever I get, I can get it in Hindi itself, right. And the consumers are liking this particular feature, and then they gave positive feedback about this," Goli said.

SRI-B works on software technologies that are incorporated in Samsung devices in collaboration with other research centres of the company.

Goli said Samsung is evaluating open source AI technologies available for providing real-time translation.

He acknowledged the need for transformation in battery technology to support the power that AI requires.

Goli said that although various large language models (AI engines ) are available, the company still needs to calibrate them to work within the limitations of a device and create a balance between power and performance.

"We have to utilise all the sensors available in the phone to come up with the software algorithm, which is powered by the AI model, to do this switch over very seamlessly.

"It was very challenging because of the nature of the Fold 7 and Flip 7. It required very deep technology research to come up with a meaningful algorithm without compromising the user experiences," he said Samsung started selling its flagship Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, Flip 7 FE and Flip7 from July onwards in India in the price range of Rs 89,999 to Rs 2.1 lakh apiece.

Goli said a lot of AI models run on Fold series devices.

"We faced challenges with the power budget and the performance budget and created that accuracy and met the quality goals," he said.

He said that the influence of AI on people's lives will depend on the manner in which the platform evolves further.

"The smartphone to AI phone transition is going to be much bigger, because the feature phone to smartphone transition did not happen overnight. The smartphone-to-AI phone transition will happen, but will take some time. Galaxy AI is the platform for that transition to happen," Goli said. PTI PRS BAL BAL