Samsung’s Bixby to get smarter with Perplexity AI in major overhaul

Samsung is reportedly bringing a major overhaul to its AI-powered Bixby assistant. The South Korean giant has mistakenly revealed that it is integrating Perplexity AI into Bixby, similar to how Apple integrated OpenAI’s ChatGPT. 

The Android Authority report highlighted that Samsung released a press note highlighting the upgrade, but it was soon removed. The Bixby upgrade will be rolled out with One UI 8.5 based on Android 16 to eligible Samsung devices. 

Samsung to power Bixby with Perplexity AI

With the OneUI 8.5 update, Bixby is getting its much-awaited overhaul with Perplexity AI integration. The voice assistant will soon become more conversational and natural, while also performing complex tasks based on user commands.

With AI powers, the Samsung voice assistant will understand conversational speech, rather than technical commands. Therefore, users will not have to memorise complex menus or specific setting names to manage the device.

Bixby is also reported to have Perplexity’s search capabilities, allowing the voice assistant to look up information on the internet. Within the chat interface, Bixby will be able to provide users with relevant links or sources for their search, reducing the hassle of manually browsing through the internet. 

While Samsung already has Google backing for several of its AI-powered features, the company is now onboarding Perplexity AI to expand its capabilities. Bringing Perplexity to its on-device voice assistance is a move similar to how Apple empowered Siri with ChatGPT to manage complex commands and tasks.

However, Samsung removing the press note creates speculation over premature publication, or there’s a potential delay in the rollout of the revamped Bixby assistant and the One UI 8.5 software update. 

As of now, it is expected that Samsung may introduce the Perplexity-powered Bixby during the Galaxy S26 series launch. The S series phone launch is not expected until the end of February, hence we will have to wait a couple of weeks more to get a confirmation.