You’ve probably seen “Galaxy AI” in teaser clips and ads in the real world ahead of the Unpacked event that Samsung hosted on Wednesday. Those following Galaxy S24 rumors would already know Galaxy AI refers to the generative AI features that Samsung built into the Galaxy S24 lines.
Samsung’s own AI announcements preceding Unpacked have teased the Live Translate feature, and we all speculated the Galaxy S24 phones will support it. Additionally, other AI features leaked ahead of the Galaxy S24 press conference.
Now that the Galaxy S24 series has been unveiled, we finally know what Galaxy AI is all about — and I’m ready to handle your questions. If you want to know how artificial intelligence works on the Galaxy S24, what you’ll have to pay for it, and what language models power Samsung’s AI, I’ll explain it all in what follows.
What is Galaxy AI?
First of all, the Galaxy AI experience is possible thanks to both hardware and software innovations.
On the hardware side, the Galaxy S24’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and Exynos 2400 chips will handle the processing. As for the software side, Galaxy AI features plenty of built-in tricks, as you’re about to see.
Circle to Search
Easily one of the Galaxy S24 highlights, Circle to Search lets you circle on anything showing on the screen to perform a Google Search. This is an AI feature that Google developed. It’s launching on January 31st on the Galaxy S24 series and the Pixel 8 phones. Google plans to bring it to other devices later.
Writing Assist
Galaxy AI will let you generate text in various places, just like any other generative AI program. That’s one of the most basic AI features you can expect from a ChatGPT-like AI service.
Summary (Samsung Internet, Samsung Notes, Voice Recorder, Android Auto)
Galaxy AI will be able to summarize the contents of web pages, notes, and voice recordings. Transcript Assist is a feature that uses AI and speed-to-text technology to translate, transcribe, and summarize audio recordings.
The partnership with Google will also impact how Android Auto works with the Galaxy S24 series. Android Auto will automatically summarize long texts and group chats while driving. It’ll also suggest relevant replies and actions so you can focus on the road.
Auto Format
If you need to format your Samsung Notes, Galaxy AI can help with pre-made formats that will organize the text with titles, headers, and paragraphs. AI in Notes also categorizes notes automatically and can straighten S Pen handwriting on the Ultra.
Generate Cover
This AI feature can come in handy for your notes. It’ll generate covers, as the name implies. And the visual covers should help you find your notes faster than before.
Magic Compose
You might be familiar with Magic Compose. It’s another Google-powered Galaxy AI feature. It’s running on-device on the Galaxy S24 via Gemini Nano. Similarly, Photomoji is a Google Messages AI feature that will let you create custom emojis from your photos using generative AI.
Chat Assist is a Galaxy AI feature that will help you ensure you deliver the perfect tone during an instant messaging conversation.
Generative Wallpaper
If this sounds familiar, that’s because generative wallpapers are a feature available in Android 14. Galaxy S24 phones will ship with Android 14 preloaded, with One UI 6.1 on top.
Generative Edit
You’ll be able to fill in parts of an image background with Generative Edit. The feature will come in handy if a picture is crooked. The feature also lets you move subjects in images.
Samsung will deploy a watermark on the image and metadata to mark AI edits. That’s a great way to prevent AI fakes. And I can’t help but wonder whether Samsung will watermark photos of the moon enhanced by Galaxy phones similarly.
In videos, Instant Slow-mo can generate additional frames.
Live Translate (Messages, Calls, Interpreter)
Samsung already demoed Live Translate ahead of the Galaxy S24 launch. The feature offers real-time two-way voice and text translations of phone calls.
Interpreter lets you translate conversations in a split-screen view so people can understand what the other person is saying in a live discussion.
Edit Suggestions
This Galaxy AI feature suggests tweaks to your photos.
Photo Ambient Wallpaper
As the name implies, this Galaxy AI feature will handle photo wallpapers on your handset.
The ProVisual Engine
Samsung will also rely on AI to improve overall photography on the Galaxy S24 series. The ProVisual Engine is a “comprehensive suite of AI-powered tools that transform image capturing abilities and maximize creative freedom every step of the way.”
Does Galaxy AI need the cloud?
Some of the Galaxy AI features Samsung incorporated into the Galaxy S24 phones will require an internet connection. Others will work on-device, which means no data will leave your phone. In the latter category, you have translation features (Messages, Calls, Interpreter), Edit Suggestions, and Photo Ambient Wallpaper.
Everything else requires an internet connection.
However, Samsung’s Knox security platform that safeguards your Galaxy phone will let you turn off online AI processing. If you don’t want any data to leave your phone, you’ll have to go to the Advanced Intelligence settings to disable online processing for AI features.
What data does Samsung collect?
Since privacy is such a big deal when it comes to generative AI, I asked Samsung what data Galaxy AI collects and how it’s used to train the AI.
The company said in a statement that Samsung’s LLMs do not learn from users’ messages or conversations, in line with other industry-leading AI models. Also, Galaxy AI will not evolve automatically with use.
At the same time, Samsung said that it plans to advance and upgrade the Galaxy LLMs with rigorous training so Galaxy AI can evolve over time and offer more sophisticated features.
How much does Galaxy AI cost?
The Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus are available for preorder starting at $799 and $999, respectively. These are the prices of their predecessors. The Galaxy S24 Ultra is the only one of the three that’s more expensive, starting at $1,299. That’s $100 more than the Galaxy S23 Ultra.
Good news: Samsung does not plan to charge extra for the Galaxy AI features built into the Galaxy S24 lineup.
What powers Galaxy AI?
Samsung recently announced Gauss, its own ChatGPT alternative. That’s the large language model (LLM) that will power certain Galaxy AI features. However, Samsung told me that Galaxy AI is a comprehensive mobile AI experience that involves partnerships with like-minded industry leaders, without naming any.
Separately, Google announced that its own LLMs will power some of Samsung’s Galaxy AI features. The company announced that its most recent and most powerful LLMs will be involved in Galaxy AI processing on the Galaxy AI. That’s Gemini, which was announced only a few months ago.
Gemini Pro, Google’s best Gemini model “for scaling across a wide range of tasks” will power summarization features in Samsung Notes, Voice Recorder, and Keyboard.
Generative Edit is possible thanks to Gogole’s text-to-imge diffusion technology Imagen 2.
The Galaxy S24 phones also ship with Gemini Nano built-in. Nano is responsible for on-device Galaxy AI features like the ones that will be found inside Google Messages.
Finally, the Galaxy S24 phones will be one of the first devices to test Gemini Ultra, Google’s largest model for highly complex tasks. It’s unclear what these highly complex tasks might be, however.
Do you need a Samsung account?
As you might expect by now, you need accounts to use AI services. Galaxy AI is no different. You’ll probably need an account for most features. But you likely already have one if you’ve used Galaxy devices before the Galaxy S24 series.
Of note, you won’t be able to use Galaxy AI features outside of Samsung’s Galaxy S24 right now.
