{"id":13180,"date":"2016-10-06T09:42:31","date_gmt":"2016-10-06T09:42:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=13180"},"modified":"2016-10-06T09:42:31","modified_gmt":"2016-10-06T09:42:31","slug":"samsung-acquires-viv-a-next-gen-ai-assistant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/technology\/innovation\/samsung-acquires-viv-a-next-gen-ai-assistant.html","title":{"rendered":"Samsung acquires Viv, a next-gen AI assistant"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\">Samsung acquires Viv, a next-gen AI assistant built by the creators of Apple\u2019s Siri<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\"><strong>Samsung acquires Viv, a next-gen AI assistant built by the creators of Apple\u2019s Siri<\/strong> : Samsung has agreed to acquire Viv, an AI and assistant system co-founded by Dag Kittlaus, Adam Cheyer and Chris Brigham \u2014 who created Siri, which was acquired by Apple in 2010. The three left Apple in the years after the acquisition and founded Viv in 2012. Pricing information was not available, but we\u2019ll check around.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\">Viv has been billed as a more extensible, powerful version of Siri.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\">Viv will continue to operate as an independent company that will provide services to Samsung and its platforms.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\">The first of two main pillars to Viv\u2019s special sauce is its interconnected nature \u2014 other agents like Siri are only starting to allow multiple silos of information across apps and services to start talking to one another and become links in a user\u2019s command chain. This allows more conversational and complex queries that more closely resemble how people actually talk.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\">The second is the programmatic nature of Viv\u2019s back-end systems. Utilizing \u201cbreakthroughs\u201d in program synthesis, Viv says its AI is capable of writing its own code to accomplish new tasks. This \u201csoftware that builds itself\u201d is not new in many other verticals, but Viv was one of the first big splash announcements using the technique that we had seen in AI. Viv calls this \u201cdynamic program generation,\u201d and it allows Viv to understand the intent of the user and to create programs to handle tasks on the fly, even if it\u2019s never heard that particular one in the past.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Beyond Siri: The World Premiere of Viv with Dag Kittlaus\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Rblb3sptgpQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\">The system was shown off in its first live demo at our Disrupt NY conference earlier this year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\">\u201cInstead of having to write every code instructed, you\u2019re really just describing what you want it to do,\u201d said Kittlaus in an interview with me after the demo. \u201cThe whole idea of Viv is that developers can go in and build any experience that they want.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\">When Kittlaus left Apple, he wrote an article called \u201cSiri Is Only The Beginning,\u201d and later wrote that there would be a \u201cCambrian Explosion In AI,\u201d enabling the technology to power many existing and new systems.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\">Ubiquity, Kittlaus said in an interview, is the reason Viv is trundling into Samsung\u2019s bosom. Specifically, when I asked him why Samsung, he said this:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\">\u201cThey ship 500 million devices a year. You asked me onstage about what our real goal is, and I said ubiquity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\">If you take a look around what\u2019s going on in the market these days, and our readiness to really expand on our distribution, it made perfect sense when we discovered that our visions are so completely aligned, and our assets using the core technology in this huge distribution, the opportunity that now is the right time, and Samsung\u2019s the right partner.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\">Samsung, of course, has been locked in a battle with Apple over the very top shares of the smartphone sales volume market. As a single manufacturer, it is the only competitor on the planet giving them any fight (and it\u2019s still not even close in the actual profit department). Samsung has seen its smartphone fortunes wane and then wax recently as its slumping sales recovered with two solid models. Unfortunately, those sales have been marred by a recall of the Galaxy Note 7 due to exploding batteries.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\">Outside of that, though, Samsung has been looking at a larger struggle as it wrestles with how to take control of its own software destiny. Google is becoming more and more of a direct competitor (or at least making a sincere attempt) every day. Whether it uses Tizen or some other software package based on Android, Samsung\u2019s future looks much brighter when it owns the hardware and what runs on the hardware than when it is beholden to Google for updates and features.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\">\u201cThis is an acquisition that is being done by the mobile team, but we clearly see the interest across our devices,\u201d says Samsung SVP Jacopo Lenzi in an interview. \u201cFrom our perspective and from the client\u2019s perspective, the interest and the power of this really comes from taking advantage of the Samsung scale overall, as well as the richness of the touch points we have with consumers.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\">Acquiring Viv gives them an honest-to-god competitor to Siri and Google\u2019s Assistant . With the caveat, of course, that Viv has not yet launched \u2014 making it impossible to tell how it will hold up in real-world usage just yet. As we\u2019ve seen over the past 12 months, such an AI-powered assistant is going to be instrumental for any mobile platform. Apple\u2019s AirPods work incredibly well with Siri given how easy they are to wear for long periods and the multiple beam-forming microphones that make input more accurate. If Samsung wants (duh) a competitor in this space, it could do worse than Viv and its team.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\">Though this acquisition is being made by the mobile group, there are opportunities beyond that, as well. The Amazon Echo, Google\u2019s Home and the smart home hub Apple has been preparing are good examples of how big companies are fighting tooth and nail to secure a place on your counter top. Samsung\u2019s release explicitly calls out areas like home appliances in addition to mobile and wearables.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\">Samsung, of course, purchased SmartThings for around $200 million back in 2014. Viv as a cross-platform agnostic brain that can power the half-dozen or so main SmartThings verticals makes a ton of sense. And Samsung has washers, refrigerators and all kinds of other home appliances. We\u2019re seeing more and more that the \u201cInternet of Things\u201d play is less about the \u201cInternet of Things\u201d \u2014 which is a dumb term that should actually die in a fire. Instead, it\u2019s about what happens when nearly everything is guaranteed to have some sort of microprocessor and radio and how those devices recognize you, their context and their integration into your life.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\">\u201cWithout talking about specifics, we do see the evolution of the customer experience being enabled by AI particularly as we continue to add devices to their system, to IoT, and the importance of something like this to really allow you just to engage with technology in the way they really want to which is simple conversational interface,\u201d says Lenzi.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\">And those smarts are not about the devices, but about the brain that controls them. A brain that could easily be powered by Viv.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\">I asked Kittlaus specifically about whether Samsung would be locking Viv away inside its ecosystem, to bolster its differentiation from Google\u2019s flavors of Android or iOS.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\">\u201cNo, definitely, the system and the philosophy are to keep this as open as we can and to add value everywhere possible. Clearly we will take full advantage of Samsung\u2019s presence in both services and of course the devices and the integrations that are possible to make the experience really good,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\">\u201cThe whole idea here from day one was to make this system where the word can plug into it and create this incredible new market place that as we discussed on stage really becomes the next paradigm, websites, mobile apps, and then this.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\">\u201cHaving an open system is required to take it from today\u2019s basic versions of what you see in the market and having people in a self-service way plug-in, in all the different markets around the world in all the different devices. Imagine how that affects the scale of what this assistant will do for you.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\">\u201cYou are going to go from a few dozen capabilities to thousands, tens of thousands or more over the coming years. In order to do what it is to get to that scale you need to have thought through all those technology and platform choices that you\u2019ve made. That\u2019s what we\u2019ve been doing for the last four years.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\">If, in fact, Samsung is looking to go beyond just \u201cadding an AI assistant\u201d to its platforms, there are plenty of signals to see here. The press release even says flat-out that \u201cwith Viv, Samsung will be able to unlock and offer new service experiences for its customers, including one that simplifies user interfaces, understands the context of the user and offers the user the most appropriate and convenient suggestions and recommendations.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\">That\u2019s PR-ese, but there are tea leaves to be read.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\">When I asked Kittlaus about what kind of differentiation Viv might bring for Samsung software across its devices he said, \u201cone way to think about this is that you\u2019ve got this massive app ecosystem out there. What you\u2019ll find in this effort is that we\u2019re going to be slowly moving over to this post-app world.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\">\u201cSamsung is clearly\u2026very well positioned to take a leadership position in that space because for this entire new space of things \u2014 vision, having this assistant everywhere, the seamless interactions and conversational commerce, and all the things that we\u2019ve talked about \u2014 it requires a new backbone. Pull these together, we\u2019ve got an opportunity to create critical mass around that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\">Samsung\u2019s purchase of Viv, then, might be less about creating a voice-powered assistant to rival Apple or Google\u2019s offerings and more about a voice-powered interface that remains the same across all of its devices, from phones to home hubs to doorknobs to refrigerators. That would catapult it directly into the very, very small group of companies that are vying to use AI as a way to acquire and retain customers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\">If Apple, Amazon and Google can boil the frog on the concept of AI as the core operating system and devices as simple armatures attached to that core, then why can\u2019t we, is Samsung\u2019s question.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000; font-size: 8pt; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;\"><strong>Source<\/strong> : https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2016\/10\/05\/samsung-acquires-viv-a-next-gen-ai-assistant-built-by-creators-of-apples-siri\/<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"fb-background-color\">\n\t\t\t  <div \n\t\t\t  \tclass = \"fb-comments\" \n\t\t\t  \tdata-href = \"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/technology\/innovation\/samsung-acquires-viv-a-next-gen-ai-assistant.html\"\n\t\t\t  \tdata-numposts = \"10\"\n\t\t\t  \tdata-lazy = \"true\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-colorscheme = \"light\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-order-by = \"social\"\n\t\t\t\tdata-mobile=true>\n\t\t\t  <\/div><\/div>\n\t\t  <style>\n\t\t    .fb-background-color {\n\t\t\t\tbackground: #ffffff !important;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t.fb_iframe_widget_fluid_desktop iframe {\n\t\t\t    width: 630px !important;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t  <\/style>\n\t\t  ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Samsung acquires Viv, a next-gen AI assistant built by the creators of Apple\u2019s Siri Samsung acquires Viv, a next-gen AI assistant built by the creators of Apple\u2019s Siri : Samsung has agreed to acquire Viv, an AI and assistant system co-founded by Dag Kittlaus, Adam Cheyer and Chris Brigham \u2014 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13181,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[975],"tags":[8144,7577,3251,8143,8146,6248,7350,64,8145],"class_list":["post-13180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-innovation","tag-apple-inc","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-business","tag-computing","tag-dag-kittlaus","tag-samsung","tag-siri","tag-technology","tag-viv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}