Could your Samsung TV replace your Amazon Echo?
Thoughts?
UWON,
South Korea-- Kim Hyun-suk, who leads Samsung Electronics Co.'s push into
artificial intelligence, is perplexed by the voice-activated speaker craze.
"Deep
down, I wonder why everyone is talking about speakers," said Mr. Kim, the
new CEO of Samsung's consumer- electronics unit, in a rare interview. The South
Korean company sells half a billion devices and appliances every year.
"Isn't
it the same as already having 500 million speakers out there?" Mr. Kim
said.
Samsung,
the world's largest maker of smartphones, TVs and semiconductors, is about to
find out if that is true. Alphabet Inc.'s Google and Amazon.com Inc. have
popularized the tabletop speaker, creating a mainstream gadget that people are
comfortable speaking to. This has given the two American companies an early
advantage in bringing AI into the home.
But
Samsung--whose own voice-activated speaker has yet to debut--has a broader
vision: It promises to put AI features and internet connectivity onto all its
products by 2020.
The goal
is to transform Samsung's stand-alone home appliances into an army of
easier-to-use synced devices capable of fielding verbal commands. The bet, if
successful, would increase consumer demand for Samsung's lineup of phones,
appliances and televisions, as it fends off the growing ambitions of Silicon
Valley rivals and lower-cost Chinese manufacturers.
