During the height of ChatGPT’s popularity, several firms across the world were concerned about their data being breached by employees uploading code and other sensitive information to the famed chatbot. Among these was the consumer technology giant—Samsung—which banned ChatGPT and other forms of generative artificial intelligence in its firm. However, the company realized that generative AI was truly the way forward to enhance productivity and the capabilities of its workforce and was reported to have begun work on an in-house ChatGPT alternative in June 2023. Samsung—a key player in the technological market and a chip manufacturer—seeks to prime its hardware capabilities toward creating a potent generative AI application that can address all of its internal needs. Rumored to be named “SimplyChat,” Samsung’s AI division seems to be working to create a functional model that can allow its workforce to address work-related problems including coding.
While the firm has already been purportedly tinkering with advanced AI assistants, the ChatGPT alternative is not modeled for the consumer base and, instead, is aimed at the internal staff who might want to use AI for several purposes. With machine learning protocols gaining massive popularity over the past two years, major firms are gearing up to provide potent solutions for both internal and external clients who would want to exploit opportunities that might enhance productivity. As rivalries among tech firms grow, the development of chatbots will only be ramped up. The following sections explore the numerous aspects of what is known about Samsung’s AI chatbot.
Samsung, ChatGPT, and the Necessity for an Internal AI Chatbot
Samsung’s chatbot might be released to internal users by the end of 2023.
The commercialization and widespread availability of chatbots and generative AI tools have touched just about every aspect of human society since the launch of ChatGPT. Realizing this opportunity and the internal demand of the requirement of a potent AI tool, Samsung decided to create a solution for its employees so that they could rely on it to address workflows including generating code and answering simple questions. Initial reports suggested that the first phases of the chatbot should be developed by the final weeks of July 2023 in addition to rumors that the initial edition of the chatbot might be unveiled by mid-September 2023. However, no news about Samsung’s chatbot has since surfaced, regardless of tangible evidence that the chatbot might indeed be undergoing rigorous development and trials. Since Chatbots depend on deep learning protocols that require gargantuan GPU capacities, Samsung restricted the usage of GPUs for several divisions within the firm, indicating that the firm was most likely developing language model artificial intelligence.
Samsung is also looking to innovate better in the field of hyper-automation and create intuitive solutions for numerous production facilities according to the firm’s press release following the company’s REAL Summit in mid-September 2023. Alongside SimplyChat for its internal users, Samsung AI has also expressed intent on offering generative AI solutions for external customers looking to integrate AI tools within their frameworks. Apart from plans to maximize AI output, Samsung also launched other AI assistants such as Brity Copilot and FabriX—a platform that integrates a firm’s numerous IT resources, intellectual assets, and data to provide better accessibility to employees looking to use these resources in their workflows. Samsung SDS also emphasizes the importance of AI safety and ensures all the data collected or stored by Samsung’s AI systems will be secure and encrypted.
The Samsung Chatbot’s Generative AI Capabilities
SimplyChat might be equipped to deal with most generative AI use cases.
While no specific technical details surrounding Samsung’s ChatGPT alternative are currently available, it can be speculated that the chatbot will be endowed with most of the common features of LLM-based AIs in the market. This would include aspects like AI writing, summarization, and coding among other functions of an advanced AI chatbot. As other tech firms like Amazon also build language models like Bedrock, Samsung intends on taking a dual approach to newly evolving technologies by utilizing AI for both internal requirements and external clients. The South Korean firm plans on running an intensive round of internal trials before it integrates the AI platform within existing company protocols and workflows. Though there’s no indication from the firm that SimplyChat might find its way to the public, the firm might later unveil a customer-facing version of the AI chatbot to its vast customer pool. By launching its own chatbot and LLM framework, Samsung can also look to build larger customer-facing applications to compete with other rival applications such as Bard or Claude.
Samsung has so far built considerable credibility in the hardware industry; however, with its entry into the AI market, the firm will invariably invest also in its software development projects that have been on the upper management’s agenda for a considerable period. Samsung’s devices might come endowed with the firm’s in-house offerings and generative models to aid customers’ usage and experience. Similarly, Samsung might also take an app-based approach to utilize AI and its popularity, much like how Google has done with potential projects like NotebookLM, and aid niche user requirements with the help of AI protocols and AI-generated content. As improved and better LLMs like GPT-4, Gemini, and Claude 2 gain prominence, large firms will be well-positioned to enter the AI market now, before it becomes excessively competitive.
The Timeline and Outlook for Samsung’s Internal ChatGPT Alternative
Samsung’s chatbot might enhance internal workflows and productivity.
While there’s no official timeline for the development surrounding Samsung’s internal AI chatbot, it can be presumed that the application might see the light of day by the end of 2023. As rivalries emerge in the AI space, tech giants from numerous nations will battle it out on the global stage to get more clients and takers for their AI tools. While Samsung is taking slow and steady steps toward its AI development goals, it is bound to compete with other big names like Apple, OpenAI, and Google for overlapping niches. As more companies join the AI race, regulatory bodies and governments will need to revamp their efforts to ensure responsible AI tenets are adhered to and put into practice as the world increasingly becomes reliant on generative artificial intelligence.
FAQs
1. Why did Samsung ban ChatGPT?
Samsung banned ChatGPT over fears that sensitive information could be leaked out of the company through an external AI chatbot. Apart from ChatGPT, Samsung also banned other generative AI apps for employees. Instead, it began working on its own AI chatbot for internal use.
2. Will Samsung SimplyChat be released for customers?
Current information suggests that SimplyChat will be restricted to internal use. However, a successful internal launch of the AI might nudge the company to also release the chatbot to its vast customer pool.
3. Is SimplyChat functional?
Current reports suggest that SimplyChat might be in the advanced stages of development and might witness a rollout for internal users toward the end of 2023.