Samsung is exploring new digital health coaching features based on large language models, or LLMs, as part of its efforts to embed AI into its most important products. The move can also be seen as an effort to fend off rivals including Google and Apple as they evolve their own health trackers and digital assistants.
As CNET reports, this initiative involves using an LLM to help interpret and provide insights about a person’s health data, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the plans aren’t public. Though a Samsung executive spoke publicly earlier this year about general interest in a digital wellness coach and using LLMs to make sense of health data, the company hasn’t yet revealed details about new products or features based on the technology.
According to CNET, Samsung has so far declined to comment. The status of the initiative and how or if it will appear in a publicly released product is unclear.
Samsung, the world’s largest smartphone maker by shipments globally, has been adding AI features to its Galaxy smartphones, laptops and smartwatches as part of a push into what its executives say is the “next era of mobile computing.” Samsung’s project, along with similar efforts by Google and Apple, suggest health tracking is the next frontier ripe for an AI-fueled upgrade.
The industry-wide focus on AI also coincides with Samsung’s expansion into the consumer health space earlier this year with the introduction of its Galaxy Ring health tracker, which can passively measure health metrics from your finger.
When asked during a CNET interview in January whether Samsung was considering developing a chatbot or virtual assistant specifically for navigating health data, Hon Pak, vice president and head of the digital health team for the mobile experience business at Samsung Electronics, didn’t rule out the possibility. He said “the concept” of a digital assistant for navigating and understanding health context is “going to be necessary” but declined to comment on specific plans.
“What form factor that’s going to be is to be determined,” said Pak after Samsung’s January Unpacked event. “And it may vary based on person to person, right? Some people just probably want audio; some people want a video on the TV.” Pak also told CNBC in February that there’s “a digital assistant coach” in Samsung’s future.
Samsung is expected to provide more details about its vision for health and wearables during its next Unpacked event, which according to reports from blog Sam Mobile and Korean newspaper The Chosun Daily is set for July 10. Samsung typically launches new smartwatches and foldable phones during its summer Unpacked event. If it continues that tradition this year, consumers can expect to see the Galaxy Ring‘s official debut, alongside new versions of the Galaxy Watch.
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