It’s no secret that Samsung has been struggling to get its AI assistant going. Bixby is currently only available in Korea, as it hasn’t fully grasped the English language yet. However, a report has indicated that that the problem isn’t so much the language as it is due to a lack of data.
According to a story from the Korea Herald, Bixby delays have been caused by a “lack of big data”. It’s entirely uncertain what this means, as the source of the information does not go into much detail.
What it could indicate is that Samsung doesn’t have enough voice samples to allow Bixby to understand the numerous accents available. Which wouldn’t be too surprising, considering that accents have caused problems for voice activated technology for decades. Not to mention that more established AI assistants still have trouble with people from some regions.
Bixby was released for a beta test in America last month, and it appears that Samsung is not happy with the results.
A second reason for the delay was also offered. This time having to do with communication between the Samsung Research team in America and top management in South Korea. Apparently the geographic and lingual barriers have resulted in slow progress.
Samsung still believes in Bixby, and is racing to catch up with the competition. A separate report from the Wall Street Journal indicates that the company is looking to build its own voice activated smart speaker; one that would challenge Apple and Google.
While the idea makes sense, as Samsung has a more established smart appliance ecosystem. Although, this all hinges on being able to get Bixby going before the next expected deadline.
[Source: Korea Herald, Wall Street Journal]
