Samsung’s Sam, the 3D avatar over which many people on social media went crazy a couple of years ago, is finally getting a purpose. Nobody knew why exactly Sam existed until now, but as it turns out, “she” is now the company’s virtual tech blogger and influencer — at least in Brazil.
Samsung announced that it launched a dedicated page for Sam last week. In essence, Samsung says that Sam is a digital specialist and an influencer who runs her own blog, which is now live in Brazil. People who visit Sam’s blog can learn more about this “up-to-date Gen Z girl,” as Samsung calls it, and get tech tips, videos, and answers to frequently asked questions.
Of course, Sam is not alive nor backed up by a conversational AI. It’s not run by something like ChatGPT. Sam is still a 3D mascot, and now it has a clearer purpose as the face of an official Samsung blog.
Sam is apparently a gamer, and her favorite game is Fortnite
Sam’s blog visitors who are willing to buy into this virtual character and believe that it’s more than just a 3D mascot for a website run by Samsung employees can cling to other made-up character traits given to Sam by its creator — the latter of which is unmistakably Samsung’s marketing engine.
The blog describes Sam as a gamer, an environmentalist, and a Metaverse enthusiast. Her favorite game is Fortnite. Of course it is! Samsung could’ve picked any other game, but “she” is an “up-to-date Gen Z girl,” after all. And she wants to “make a difference in the world and leave her mark.”
The first step into changing the world is running Samsung’s virtual blog. And so, she does. Sam now offers tips and tricks to Samsung customers in Brazil, and only time will tell if she’ll become multilingual and run its virtual influencer blog in multiple languages. So far, Sam has published a few tips, mainly on mobile photography. She is also featured in a handful of videos you can watch below.
The idea that Sam may eventually get avatar-like capabilities powered by conversational AIs such as ChatGPT is not hard to imagine. As long as this scheme is successful and Sam becomes a powerful “virtual influencer,” she might eventually be backed by AI. And who knows? She might even become the face of Bixby on mobile devices. Samsung previously confirmed that it is looking at ChatGPT as a model and remains open to creating partnerships with AI tech firms to bring better AI to mobile devices. But for now, Sam is still a bit of a marketing gimmick.
