Samsung Just Gave Bixby a Brain Transplant: Here is How to Use It

Samsung’s Bixby has spent years as the “forgotten” assistant, often relegated to the accidental button press or the junk folder of mobile features. That era is officially over. Samsung is currently rolling out a massive generative AI overhaul to millions of Galaxy devices, transforming Bixby from a glorified voice-activated timer into a sophisticated Large Language Model (LLM) powerhouse that actually understands context and intent.

The Why: Why Bixby Matters Again

For the last half-decade, Bixby felt like a relic. While ChatGPT and Claude revolutionized how we interact with text, Samsung’s native assistant was still struggling to set reminders if you didn’t use the exact phrasing.

The problem this update solves is device-specific intelligence. Google Gemini is great at searching the web, but it doesn’t always play nice with your specific system settings or deep-linked gallery folders. Samsung is betting that you want an assistant that doesn’t just know who the President is, but one that can “find that photo of the blue car from last Tuesday and crop it for Instagram” without you lifting a finger. By integrating LLMs directly into the One UI ecosystem, Samsung is making the phone an active participant in your workflow rather than a passive slate of glass.

Step-by-Step: Enabling and Mastering the New Bixby

If you’re holding a recent Galaxy flagship, you likely already have the hardware capabilities. Here is how to activate the new features and put them to work.

Update your System Software. Navigate to Settings > Software Update and ensure you are running the latest version of One UI (6.1.1 or higher). The AI features are bundled within these core system updates.
Initialize the Galaxy AI Suite. Open Settings > Advanced Features > Galaxy AI. Ensure that the “Process Data Locally” toggle is reviewed. You can choose to process data on-device for maximum privacy or use the cloud for more complex queries.
Trigger the New Interface. Hold the power button or say “Hi Bixby.” You will notice a new, liquid-like glowing border around your screen—this indicates the generative engine is active and listening for natural language.
Execute Multi-Intent Commands. Instead of simple commands, give Bixby a stack. Try: “Hey Bixby, take a screenshot of this page, translate it to Spanish, and email it to my boss.”
Use Screen Context. Open a long article in the Samsung Browser and activate Bixby. Ask it to “Summarize this into three bullet points and add them to my Calendar for tomorrow.”

💡 Pro-Tip: Use the “Talk to Bixby” feature while the camera is open. You can ask it to “Describe what I’m looking at” to generate alt-text for accessibility or to identify objects and immediately find them in your shopping history or saved notes. This type of Google Personal Intelligence integration is becoming the new standard for mobile OS efficiency.

The Buyer’s Perspective: Samsung vs. Apple vs. Google

We are currently witnessing the “Great Assistant Rebrand.” Apple is slowly rolling out Apple Intelligence (Siri’s long-awaited upgrade), and Google is aggressively replacing Assistant with Gemini.

Samsung’s advantage lies in system-level integration. While Gemini feels like an “app” living on top of Android, the new Bixby feels like it lives inside the hardware. It has better control over granular settings—like toggling your hotspot, managing your Battery Protect settings, or moving files between Secure Folder and your Gallery. For users concerned about how these tools manage their information, what happens when people don’t understand how AI works is often a lack of privacy control, which Samsung addresses with its local processing toggles.

However, there is a catch. Samsung’s AI is a hybrid of its own proprietary tech and Google’s Gemini models. This means you get excellent performance, but it can occasionally feel like a “too many cooks in the kitchen” situation where you aren’t sure if you’re talking to Bixby or a Google backend. Compared to the seamless (if delayed) promise of Apple Intelligence, Samsung’s approach is punchier and available right now, even if the branding is a bit cluttered.

FAQ

Does this update work on older Samsung phones?
The generative features are primarily targeting the S24, S23, Z Fold 5/6, and Z Flip 5/6 series. While older phones like the S22 may get some “lite” versions of these features, the full-blown LLM experience requires the NPU (Neural Processing Unit) found in newer chips. Much like how Claude 3.5 Sonnet requires massive processing power, on-device Samsung AI relies heavily on modern silicon.

Is my voice data being sent to Samsung’s servers?
By default, complex tasks use cloud processing. However, you can go into “Advanced Intelligence” settings and toggle “Process Data Only on Device.” This keeps your data private but may slightly limit the complexity of the assistant’s answers. This is similar to how Firefox built an “Off” switch for the AI era to give users more control over their data footprint.

Does this mean Bixby is replacing Google Assistant?
No. Samsung allows both to coexist. You can set your default assistant to whichever you prefer, but Bixby remains the superior choice for controlling the actual hardware settings of your Galaxy device.

Ethical Note/Limitation: While the new Bixby is significantly smarter, it is still prone to “hallucinations” and may occasionally misinterpret complex creative prompts or provide inaccurate summaries of very long documents.