Samsung turns Bixby into a conversational AI agent with One UI 8.5

Samsung has unveiled a new version of Bixby. It has been upgraded to a conversational AI agent. The new digial assistant is now available on devices running One UI 8.5 Beta. Samsung says its AI-powered digital assistant is now more intuitive and more capable than before. The upgrade was first announced a few weeks ago.

You can ask Bixby almost any question, and it will fetch relevant information from the web in real time through its integration with Perplexity. This allows you to access up-to-date information directly within Bixby’s native interface without switching to a separate app or web browser.

For example, if you ask Bixby, “Find me hotels in Seoul that have swimming pools for kids,” it will retrieve the information using Perplexity and display the relevant results within its interface. The redesigned user interface also lets you review your previous conversations with Bixby more easily. Similar to ChatGPT and Gemini, it displays all conversation threads in the menu on the left side of the screen.

Bixby can also control and navigate Galaxy smartphones using natural language commands. You don't need to know the exact name of a feature or setting on your device. You can simply describe what you want to do, and Bixby will understand the intent and take the appropriate action.

For instance, if you say, “I don’t want the screen to time out while I’m still looking at it,” Bixby will automatically enable the ‘Keep Screen On While Viewing' setting on a Galaxy S25.

The new version of Bixby is currently available to One UI 8.5 Beta Program participants in Germany, India, Korea, Poland, the UK, and the US. It will roll out to compatible Galaxy phones and tablets in additional markets in the coming months as a part of the stable One UI 8.5 update.

Won Joon Choi, Samsung MX COO, said, “Since we introduced our first AI phone in 2024, we’ve been committed to making them easier to use so more people can benefit from AI. That’s why we decided to integrate a device agent directly into the experience. To support this, we redesigned Bixby to enable more natural interactions and intuitive device control, reducing friction in everyday tasks.”