Samsung's new AI refrigerator aims to solve the most stressful part of cooking

Samsung has unveiled a new Family Hub Refrigerator that is designed to solve what many consider the most stressful aspect of cooking: choosing the daily menu. Apparently, the stress isn't in the cooking itself but in deciding what to prepare. And Samsung and Google have partnered to solve that problem.

A few days ago, Samsung announced that it is bringing Google's Gemini AI to its new Family Hub Refrigerator models. With a downward-facing camera on the top, it can scan everything that you are storing inside and taking outside the refrigerator. While previous refrigerators in the series also had a camera, it could only detect 37 different types of fresh food items and up to 50 packaged food items. Thanks to Gemini's much more advanced object recognition algorithms, the new refrigerator can identify a lot more types of food.

The refrigerator then creates a list of items that are stored inside the refrigerator and where exactly those items are placed. It also keeps the list updated every time you take an item outside the fridge. So, the inventory is always updated. Plus, based on its database, it can let you know if an item is about to expire.

By syncing the inventory from your refrigerator with the Samsung Food service, it creates a list of recipes that you can cook. Once you select any of those options from the What's For Today feature, the refrigerator displays a step-by-step guide on how to prepare that recipe on its giant 32-inch touchscreen display. Plus, if you have a Samsung oven with a touchscreen display, the refrigerator sends the recipe to the oven to keep the devices in sync while you cook.

The refrigerator can also send you recommended cooking videos using the Video to Recipe feature. The AI-powered feature can even convert the video into an easy-to-follow step-by-step preparation guide. So, you don't have to pause the video from time to time to keep up with each step, which is not easy when your hands are already full and dirty. When your meal prep is ready to be placed inside an oven, all you need to do is press start, as the oven is in sync with the refrigerator.

The new Family Hub Refrigerator will also display weekly recaps of your food patterns. The FoodNote feature keeps track of food items that have been frequently added to and removed from the refrigerator and creates a report. You can then make better decisions when you visit the grocery store. And based on that report, FoodNote recommends you recipes and shows you which items to restock.

The refrigerator also shows you more widgets on its cover screen. Samsung is calling it Now Brief. Based on the voice of each member in the family, the upgraded Bixby can display custom information catered to that particular family member. It can display a calendar, health metrics from Samsung Health, photos and videos, music playlists from Spotify, news of interest, recommended recipes, and a weather report.