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Samsung to launch AI digital assistant with Galaxy S8

Company plans to incorporate the recently acquired Viv platform into its phones, home appliances and wearable devices, Reuters reports.

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Steven Musil is the night news editor at CNET News. He's been hooked on tech since learning BASIC in the late '70s. When not cleaning up after his daughter and son, Steven can be found pedaling around the San Francisco Bay Area. Before joining CNET in 2000, Steven spent 10 years at various Bay Area newspapers.
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Watch this: Samsung's 'Bixby' assistant may have its own button on Galaxy S8

Samsung plans to launch an artificial intelligence digital assistant with its upcoming Galaxy S8 phone, the company said Sunday according to Reuters.

The announcement comes a month after Samsung revealed it had agreed to acquire the artificial intelligence startup behind Viv -- a voice assistant that aims to handle everyday tasks for you all on its own. Samsung plans to incorporate the platform into its line of Galaxy phones , as well as home appliances and wearable devices, Reuters reported.

Artificial intelligence, a term used for the ability of a machine, computer or system to exhibit humanlike intelligence, is widely expected to represent the next frontier of computing. With that in mind, AI-powered voice assistants have suddenly become all the rage, offering a hands-free and more natural way to ask questions, find information and manage busy lives.

Samsung is hoping the digital assistant will help it rebound from the public relations and business nightmare created by the recalls and cancellation of the overheating Galaxy Note 7. Last month, Samsung's mobile division, the division responsible for the Note 7, reported a decline in operating profit of about 96 percent -- its lowest in nearly eight years.

Samsung did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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