[AI Leadership] ③ Samsung’s AI Strategy Centred on Customer Experiences

AI itself is not the Holy Grail at Samsung Electronics. Rather, AI is a tool — a relatively new and powerful one — to make meaningful improvements in users’ everyday lives. Building on a long tradition of technological leadership and open innovation, Samsung leverages its diverse capabilities — that range from operational technologies such as on-device and cloud AI to strategies including proprietary AI model development and partnerships — to deliver practical solutions and elevate the customer experience.

In this final installment of Samsung’s AI Leadership series, Samsung Newsroom explores how Samsung’s technological expertise and research initiatives aim to refine AI-driven user interactions across its expansive portfolio.

Prioritising Customer Experiences

Samsung utilises on-device and cloud-based AI solutions in its offerings. This strategy is further reinforced by the pursuit of hybrid AI, which integrates the strengths of both technologies to provide context-aware, tailored solutions for diverse user needs. The decision on which type or combination of technologies to employ is anchored by this ultimate goal — “How can we best serve the consumer?”

On-device AI delivers secure and efficient AI experiences in devices such as smartphones and TVs by utilising only the data and resources on the device itself. Because on-device AI doesn’t communicate with the cloud, responses are virtually instantaneous. Since data doesn’t leave the device, the technology is often considered safer for sensitive procedures such as those that involve personal information.

Similarly, edge AI operates independently of cloud infrastructure and relies solely on specific local resources to perform AI functions. In interconnected home environments where appliances and IoT devices work in tandem, data processing in edge AI can be handled by either devices with higher performance specifications or devices nearby — without depending on the cloud. Thus, edge AI offers speed and security benefits akin to on-device AI.

While on-device and edge AI rely on technologies that use smaller models and fewer computations in constrained hardware environments, experiences that require access to extensive online information or high-performance computing are supported by cloud-based AI. The technology utilises vast datasets and large-scale AI models hosted on servers to deliver a range of advanced capabilities. To achieve high performance while maintaining efficiency and security, Samsung conducts extensive research in areas including minimising data latency, optimising model efficiency and implementing data anonymisation and encryption.

With expertise in all these different forms of AI — on-device, edge and cloud-based — Samsung takes a step further and combines different formats as necessary to best serve the needs of each use case. In hybrid AI, sensitive and quick-response data can be processed using on-device AI models while the cloud can manage processing that requires external resources like up-to-date information or high-performance models. Galaxy AI, for instance, uses both on-device AI and cloud AI — operating either independently or simultaneously as needed — to deliver optimised solutions for users.

Generative AI Integrated Into Everyday Life

Samsung continues to drive innovation in the realm of generative AI, further enhancing the versatility of its products and services. For instance, Galaxy AI offers a suite of features^[1] including Chat Assist, which supports translation and interpretation in select messaging apps; Note Assist, which helps summarise notes and generates note covers; and Photo Assist, which edits images with generative AI.

Generative AI is also supported on select Samsung TVs and home appliances through the Generative Wallpaper feature.^[2] Users can enjoy 4K wallpapers that fit their tastes on the 2024 Neo QLED TV or transform their kitchens with AI-generated cover screens on the Family Hub™ refrigerator.

To offer the best generative AI experience on its devices, Samsung not only collaborates with partners but also develops its own AI models. From fundamental technologies beginning with initial research — including foundation model development — to data collection and training as well as lightweight AI model development, Samsung leverages its vast expertise across the AI R&D board to optimise solutions and meet each product’s specific needs.

For example, Samsung developed proprietary foundation models specifically for image generation, editing and transformation to support a wide range of visual creation experiences. This was a challenge because unlike text data — which is composed of discrete values — image data consists of continuous values, offering nearly limitless possibilities for generation. To address this complexity, the company applied specialised training techniques to the image models while reducing their size for efficient on-device operation. Developers refined deep learning algorithms and data augmentation techniques to allow for rapid computation and seamless image creation with minimal processing requirements.

These foundation models were then fine-tuned for specific applications. For instance, the Photo Ambient wallpaper in Samsung’s latest smartphones integrates the image model with real-time data to create dynamic wallpapers that visually reflect current conditions such as snowfall or a starlit night depending on the time and weather.
 

Samsung Gauss2: Samsung’s Proprietary Generative AI

The application of generative AI is rapidly expanding beyond personal daily use into enterprise environments. Samsung has developed a proprietary generative AI model to strengthen its competitiveness in AI technology, securely manage sensitive internal information and optimise performance and scalability for specific purposes. Proprietary generative AI allows the company to establish models tailored to a wide range of products and services while improving internal productivity in a more secure environment.

Samsung recently unveiled its upgraded proprietary generative AI model, Samsung Gauss2 with better performance and efficiency compared to its predecessor, Samsung Gauss1, introduced last year. Samsung Gauss2 is a multimodal^[3] model capable of simultaneously processing and understanding various data types.

Samsung Gauss2 is available in three models tailored to specific use cases — Compact, Balanced and Supreme. The Compact model is a lightweight variant optimised for on-device AI. The Balanced model, a medium-sized cloud-based variant, is designed for tasks such as text and code generation. The Supreme model, a large cloud-based variant, is built to support high-performance services with a particular focus on improving workplace productivity.

To efficiently implement large models like the Supreme variant, Samsung has incorporated the Mixture of Experts (MoE) technique to selectively activate only the “expert models” most suitable for specific tasks within a large-scale neural network.

MoE significantly reduces the number of computations during training and inference by activating only the necessary components, rather than running all expert models simultaneously in response to each query. This selective activation not only enhances efficiency but also facilitates the expansion of the model to address increasingly complex problems by adding more expert models. Samsung has meticulously trained these expert models to operate accurately and without interference.

Samsung Gauss2 is already being applied across multiple areas within Samsung. For instance, the Device eXperience (DX) Division employs Samsung Gauss2’s coding assistant service to support research and development activities. This service leverages a specialised model — trained on Samsung’s proprietary data, code and processes — to generate code needed for product and service development. Fully integrated into the company’s internal software development environment, the coding assistant supports natural language interactions and various programming languages to streamline developer workflows.

The Samsung Gauss Portal, a conversational AI service, is widely used for workplace tasks such as document summarisation and translation, email drafting and more. Future updates aim to enhance the portal’s natural language question-and-answer capabilities and expand its multimodal features to include interpreting tables and charts and generating images.

Strengthening AI Capabilities Through Consumer Engagement

Leveraging its extensive product lines, Samsung is developing technologies that support on-device, cloud and generative AI to deliver a distinct competitive edge in AI capabilities.

By connecting with consumers through its products, the company gains valuable insights into user behaviors and needs to enable the development of practical AI solutions. This creates a virtuous cycle — whereby user data informs AI advancements, which in turn deliver value back to consumers.

Samsung couples this understanding of products with in-house advancements and strategic partnerships to implement optimal AI technologies. For instance, neural processing units (NPUs) — specialised accelerators for AI computation — must be tailored to meet the specific requirements of individual products, rather than applied uniformly across all devices. Samsung not only designs NPUs in-house for its own products but also applies software optimisations to partner chipsets, ensuring support for AI functions and peak performance in Samsung devices.

In addition, the company draws on the expertise and perspectives of product-specific specialists to address security issues and facilitate the immediate application of solutions to products while driving continuous technological improvement. The blockchain-based, multi-device security solution Knox Matrix is a notable example of how this collaborative approach can create an environment in which connected devices check each other for threats to enhance security.

Through the implementation of customised AI technologies, Samsung continues to unlock new possibilities for users. Looking ahead, the company plans to deliver more differentiated AI experiences that empower users through meaningful and enriching interactions.

^[1]Availability of Galaxy AI features may vary by region, country, OS or One UI version, model and carrier.
^[2]Generative Wallpaper feature may vary by region and model.
^[3]Capable of simultaneously understanding and processing various types of data (modalities) including text, images, audio and video.