Samsung Gauss is the name the Korean giant chose for the generative AI language model that customers will use on future devices. Samsung confirmed its work on this ChatGPT rival earlier this week at the AI Forum event in Korea. Gauss will probably debut on the Galaxy S24 phones, though Samsung has yet to confirm anything. Samsung did say recently that it will launch an AI phone next year. The Galaxy S24 phones would likely be the best fit for that role.
Gauss has three components, Samsung announced. These are Gauss Language, Gauss Code, and Gauss Image. They’re all generative AI features that will match experiences available from competing products, like ChatGPT, Google Bard, and others. But then Samsung teased a specific AI feature coming to phones in the near future.
The feature is called “AI Live Translate Call” and will do what the name implies. It’ll likely debut with the Galaxy S24 phones in a few short months. However, again, Samsung is only teasing its work on generative AI right now instead of committing to anything.
If you’re a fan of Star Trek, you’re probably familiar with the idea of universal translator tech that allows humans to talk to most alien species in real-time. That’s sci-fi artificial intelligence (AI) at work in there, of course. But Samsung AI Live Translate Call sounds like the kind of tech that will get us there in the future, assuming we find some aliens to talk to.
In the meantime, AI Live Translate Call will let you make calls to people who speak a different language. The smartphone will then translate the conversation in real-time, as it happens.
Samsung says the feature will work on-device, which means the data will never hit Samsung’s servers. AI Live Translate Call will offer both audio and text translations as you speak:
For a tiny glimpse of one benefit Galaxy AI will enable, look no further than the very thing our phones were originally created to do, calling each other. AI Live Translate Call will soon give users with the latest Galaxy AI phone a personal translator whenever they need it. Because it’s integrated into the native call feature, the hassle of having to use third-party apps is gone. Audio and text translations will appear in real-time as you speak, making calling someone who speaks another language about as simple as turning on closed captions when you stream a show. Because it’s on-device Galaxy AI, you can trust that no matter the scenario, private conversations never leave your phone.
We can already use translation apps to talk to people in other languages. But most apps involve face-to-face conversations. What Samsung proposes would let you translate what people are saying over the phone. The feature should come in handy in a variety of situations, provided it works as seamlessly as Samsung is teasing.
As you can see in the quote above, Samsung doesn’t mention the Galaxy S24 by name. Instead, it mentions “the latest Galaxy AI phone.” This implies multiple devices could get the feature, but the Galaxy S24 should be the first. You don’t announce Gauss and tease features like AI Live Translate Call a few months before the Galaxy S24 launch without equipping the upcoming flagships with these generative AI features.
The entire blog post makes a big deal about generative AI, with Samsung suggesting it’ll unveil AI features that aren’t available elsewhere:
No company can harness AI’s potential like Galaxy. Why? Because Galaxy puts the power of openness in the palm of your hand. Designed to empower everyone, everywhere, Galaxy AI is universal intelligence on your phone as you’ve never seen it before. In all the places it matters most — from barrier-free communication, to simplified productivity, to unconstrained creativity — we’re unleashing new possibilities.
Samsung also confirmed that Galaxy AI will be powered by “both on-device AI developed at Samsung and cloud-based AI enabled by our open collaborations with like-minded industry leaders.” It’s unclear what those collaborations might be.
