Today, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. has announced that the company has agreed to acquire Viv Labs, Inc., a third-party developer that specializes in artificial intelligence and building conversational assistants, integrating natural language-based interface into applications and services.
Acquiring Viv will allow Samsung to unlock and offer new service experiences for their customers, such as simplifying user interfaces, understands the context of the user and offers the user the most appropriate and convenient suggestions and recommendations. Viv’s platform also allows developers to teach the system how to create new applications or to use existing applications, building an open ecosystem of intelligence that is greater than the sum of its parts and gets smarter every day.
“Unlike other existing AI-based services, Viv has a sophisticated natural language understanding, machine learning capabilities and strategic partnerships that will enrich a broader service ecosystem,” said Injong Rhee, CTO of the Mobile Communications business at Samsung Electronics. “Viv was built with both consumers and developers in mind. This dual focus is also what attracted us to Viv as an ideal candidate to integrate with Samsung home appliances, wearables and more, as the paradigm of how we interact with technology shifts to intelligent interfaces and voice control.”
“At Viv, we’re building the simplest way for anyone to talk to devices and services everywhere. We see a future that is decidedly beyond apps—where you can get what you need quickly and easily no matter where you are, or what device you are near,” said Viv co-founder and CEO, Dag Kittlaus. “Samsung offers us a unique opportunity to deliver a single conversational interface to the world’s apps and services across a diverse range of products, at global scale.”Samsung’s Global Innovation Center spearheaded the acquisition for Samsung’s Mobile Communications business. “At GIC we’re always looking for startups with a compelling vision and breakthrough experiences we can help build, grow and scale,” said Jacopo Lenzi, SVP of Business Development and Strategic Acquisitions. “We see great potential in the Viv AI software and platform, and we’re excited for Viv to reach our millions of users through Samsung’s global presence and distribution.”
Viv was founded by AI visionaries Dag Kittlaus, Adam Cheyer and Chris Brigham. As part of the acquisition, the founding team will work closely with Samsung’s Mobile Communications business, but continue to operate independently under its existing leadership.
COMMENTS