With generative AI on a tear, various uses of advanced artificial intelligence are now starting to pop up in different markets. Inevitably, this is going to have a big impact on how we use smartphones and it seems like Samsung has taken the first step there with a new feature for its proprietary voice assistant, Bixby, called Custom Voice Creator.
This goes far beyond the traditional voicemail prompt, with Samsung allowing users to create an AI-generated copy of their own voice which can then be used to answer and engage with callers. Any sentence can be recorded for Bixby to then analyse and create a copy which is stored and can be used to respond to various prompts.
For example, you can use the new Samsung Custom Voice Creator to type out a sentence that will then be read to the caller in your voice. We assume the nuances of your speech pattern will also come across clearly. Basically, you’ll be able to act as your own teleprompter and – theoretically – the caller wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between you and AI you.
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Alongside a few other new features for Bixby, which include a more natural voice-to-text feature that can transform voice calls into written text, the Custom Voice Creator represents a meaningful change to how we use our smartphones to communicate. So far, only Korean models of the new Galaxy S23 series devices have access to the feature so it is yet clear when other markets will be able to use Bixby this way.
According to CNET, the South Korean company also plans to expand the use of AI for Bixby can do much more with it than answer calls for you.
There’s little doubt other phone manufacturers like Google and Apple will also be relying on similar AI functions for future models.
As the world continues to figure out how to adapt AI-generated content to just about all aspects of life, expect this to only be the beginning of AI-driven smartphone features. This attempt by Samsung to use Bixby as a custom voice creator will most likely be seen as a rudimentary use of the technology in as little as a year from now.
This, of course, opens up a whole new can of worms as far as privacy concerns go. Last year, Samsung did say that Bixby’s text-to-speech transcription process will take place entirely on the phone itself rather than in the cloud. Audio is also deleted right after the process, so it’s not like these features are being introduced in complete ignorance of the inevitable privacy issues it raises.
It would also be a mistake to think this is entirely straightforward. To be clear, Bixby doesn’t create an AI clone of you so it can go off catfishing people. The Bixby Text Call feature simply lets you type a message to answer a phone call when you can’t or don’t want to engage verbally.
For journalists who suffer from daily “I’m calling about an e-mail I sent you five minutes ago” pitches, this is god-tier news.
