A digital assistant has become standard in today's smartphone world. But while it is present in most handhelds, there are some AI products that are just more popular and more varied that the rest. So Samsung, in an attempt to strengthen its own version of the technology, has recently acquired Viv Labs, Inc., which is responsible for developing Apple's Siri.
What Is Viv Labs, Inc.?
As Reuters UK notes, Viv Labs, Inc. is an artificial intelligence platform developer. And while this in itself might not make the company so special, it does have a leg above its competition. That is, it is run by the co-creator of Siri, which is one of the more prefered digital assistants currently in the market.
The San Jose-based company's AI platform is simply called Viv.
What Does Samsung Want?
Siri has recently been incorporated into the Mac products of Apple, thereby bringing digital assistance and AI into a new platform. This is Samsung's apparent end goal.
The Korean tech giant confirmed that it plans to integrate Viv into its line of Galaxy smartphones as well as its home appliances and other wearable tech devices.
It is very possible that everyday household items, as long as they are manufactured and produced by Samsung, can be powered via voice commands.
"Viv brings in a very unique technology to allow us to have an open system where any third-party service and content providers (can) add their services to our devices' interfaces," Samsung's executive vice president, Rhee In-jong, told the publication.
Rhee also admitted that the move was vital in order to continue revolutionizing the company. "We can't innovate using only in-house technology," he said.
Why Viv?
According to Tech Crunch, Viv has been dubbed as a more varied and more powerful version of Siri, so there is no question why Samsung has acquired the company that developed it. However, Viv Labs, Inc. will continue to act as an independent body even after the acquisition is finalized.
