Samsung Electronics’ vice president said the company’s upcoming artificial intelligence technology Bixby will be applied to all of its appliances and will also be opened to third-party developers to make applications.

Bixby is Samsung’s new voice assistant and will make its debut in the company’s upcoming flagship smartphone Galaxy S8.

According to a statement released by the Korean tech giant’s Executive Vice President Rhee In-jong on Tuesday, a subset of preinstalled applications will be Bixby-enabled at the launch of the Galaxy S8.

“Our plan is to eventually release a tool to enable third-party developers to make their applications and services Bixby-enabled easily,” Rhee said.

He added, “Starting with our smartphones, Bixby will be gradually applied to all our appliances. In the future you would be able to control your air conditioner or TV through Bixby.”

Through the launch of Bixby, the electronics maker, which is conventionally strong at hardware, aims to expand its influence in the area of software where its partner Google has long taken the lead.

Samsung said as long as a device has an internet connection and simple circuitry to receive voice inputs, it will be able to connect with Bixby as the technology will be implemented in the cloud.

“As the Bixby ecosystem grows, we believe Bixby will evolve from a smartphone interface to an interface for your life,” the Samsung vice chief said. 

By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)