Samsung’s Bixby voice assistant finally arrives in English on the Galaxy S8

Bixby was one of the headline features of the Samsung Galaxy S8, but the main part of it (its voice capabilities) have so far been limited to South Korea. That’s all changing today, as Samsung has confirmed that it’s finally launched the AI assistant in the US.

If you have a Samsung Galaxy S8 or Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus in the US you should now be able to download a software update by holding the dedicated Bixby hardware button on your phone. After which you’ll be able to ask Bixby questions and give it instructions either with a press or by saying “Hi, Bixby”.

The US is only the second place Samsung has launched Bixby and there’s no word yet on when anywhere else will get the Google Assistant rival.

The fact that it’s now available in an English-speaking country is a good sign, suggesting the likes of the UK and Australia might not be far behind, though additional work may be required to account for different accents in these locations.

A slow start but a bright future

Samsung clearly has high hopes for Bixby, with the company supposedly also planning to bake it into a smart speaker, set to compete with the likes of Amazon Echo and Google Home, yet the launch so far hasn’t been all that smooth.

Aside from the delays in availability of the voice service, Bixby also currently doesn’t do much of substance that you can’t do with other AI assistants, but there’s potential here, with talk of deep integration with apps and an understanding of context.

Right now Bixby can only fully interact with a handful of apps, but it’s sure to improve over time, so if you want to see the beginnings of what could soon be a big-hitting AI you now can. If you’re in the US.