Samsung is exploring new digital health guidance features based on large language models (LLMs) as part of its efforts to embed artificial intelligence into its most important products. The move could also be seen as an effort to fend off rivals including Google and Apple as they develop their own fitness trackers and digital assistants.
The plan involves using LL.M.s to help interpret and provide insights about personal health data, people familiar with the matter said. Although Samsung executives publicly stated earlier this year that there is widespread interest in digital health coaches and using LL.M.s to understand health data, the company has yet to reveal details about new products or features based on the technology.
Samsung declined to comment. The status of the program and how or if it will appear in a publicly released product is unclear.
Samsung, the world’s largest smartphone maker by shipments, has been adding artificial intelligence features to its Galaxy smartphones, laptops and smartwatches as part of what executives say is the next era of mobile computing. part. Samsung’s project and similar efforts by Google and Apple show that health tracking is the next area ripe for AI-driven upgrades. The industry-wide focus on artificial intelligence also coincides with Samsung’s expansion into consumer health earlier this year with the launch of the Galaxy Ring health tracker, which can passively measure health indicators with a finger.
The Galaxy Ring is a companion product to the Samsung Health app.
When asked in a CNET interview in January whether Samsung was considering developing a chatbot or virtual assistant specifically for navigating health data, Hon Pak, vice president of mobile experience business and head of the digital health team at Samsung Electronics, did not rule out the possibility. .
He said the “concept” of digital assistants for navigating and understanding health conditions “will be necessary” but declined to comment on specific plans.
“The specific form factor is still to be determined,” Pak said after Samsung’s Unpacked event in January. “And that might vary from person to person, right? Some people might just want audio; some people want video on the TV.”
Pak also told CNBC in February this year that Samsung will have “a digital assistant coach” in the future.
Samsung is expected to provide more details about its health and wearable device vision at its next Unpacked event on July 10, according to blog Sam Mobile and South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo. New smart watches and foldable phones were launched at the event. If this tradition continues this year, consumers can expect to see the Galaxy Ring officially unveiled together with the new Galaxy Watch.
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Samsung Health Coaching Program
The goal of the Samsung Health Assistant program is to gain insights through the LL.M. to gain a deeper understanding of an individual’s health data, according to people familiar with Samsung’s work. An example might include observing a person’s sleep patterns, such as whether they sleep better after exercising.
A hint about what Samsung might be doing appeared on the website of Hazel Zhang, who worked as an interaction designer for Samsung, according to her LinkedIn page. Her website includes a proposal for a conversational health and wellness coach called Thrive, which appears to be separate from the Thrive app Samsung launched in 2018 as part of a partnership with publisher and entrepreneur Arianna Huffington .
This old app was designed to help people disconnect from their phones. The project described on Zhang’s website involves answering questions about personal health data.
After being contacted by CNET, Zhang password-protected the portion of her website that contained details about the project. At the time of writing, the site is publicly accessible.
The information on Zhang’s website archived by CNET appears to be a proposal from several months ago and may not reflect Samsung’s plans if the project goes forward. Zhang declined to comment for this story.
Pictures on the website show an artificial intelligence assistant answering questions such as “How did I sleep last night?” and proactively asks users if they are feeling well after a poor night’s sleep. Other studies have shown that AI assistants can highlight potential factors that may disrupt sleep based on a person’s habits, such as social media use before bed.
Other examples of health insights mentioned on Zhang’s website include noting that stress levels may be higher when browsing social media before bed, or that more restful sleep patterns are observed when the room is cooler.
As part of the project, Samsung is also exploring use cases specifically for seniors, according to Zhang’s website and a person familiar with the company’s work.
Samsung launched a LL.M.-based health course in 2023 and early 2024, according to two people familiar with the matter and Zhang’s website. The project appears to be in its early stages and may not be released this year if progress is made, people familiar with the matter said.
But CNET has learned that Samsung could use the LLM to power another previously announced health tool called Energy Score, which will launch later this year. Energy Score analyzes metrics like average sleep duration, sleep duration consistency, previous day activity, and heart rate variability, among other measurements, to determine your current status. Samsung’s press release about the feature mentions combining on-device artificial intelligence with the Samsung Health app, but doesn’t specifically mention the use of LLM.
“Samsung is creating the most personalized and safe health experience yet,” the press release reads.
These details are consistent with the approach Pak hinted at in conversations with CNET and CNBC earlier this year. In a January interview with CNET, Pak discussed Samsung’s interest in finding ways to help caregivers. When asked about the possibility of a health chatbot, he also said that Samsung is exploring various options for different “human-machine interfaces,” some of which may involve partnerships.
“It could be a completely different visual design change compared to a digital assistant, like a chatbot versus an avatar,” he said.
In a conversation with CNBC, Pak discussed how large language models can help process different types of data, such as medical records and mobile device usage, to “bring deeper insights.”
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Artificial intelligence plays a bigger role in fitness trackers
Samsung’s approach sounds similar to Google’s Fitbit Labs plan announced last year. Fitbit users will be able to ask questions, such as why they feel more tired than usual after a run, prompting Fitbit to compare that run to previous runs to look for changes. In March of this year, Google announced that it was developing a master’s degree in law specifically designed for personal health, which will be based on its Gemini AI model and analyze Fitbit data.
In June, Google published two new research papers detailing its work on LLM and health data.
Shows examples of the type of information Fitbit Labs will be able to provide.
According to Bloomberg, Apple may also be developing an artificial intelligence health coach. According to the report, the coaching service will try to use artificial intelligence to evaluate Apple Watch health data and then develop a personalized health plan to improve sleep, exercise and nutrition habits. Last year, Apple also upgraded its voice assistant Siri to be able to answer questions about Apple Watch users’ health data.
Although Apple didn’t launch an artificial intelligence health assistant at its developer conference on June 10, it did announce several upgrades to Siri and new Apple Watch health metrics. Siri will soon incorporate the personal context of a user’s iPhone into responses, and the Apple Watch will be able to show when certain health data points measured during sleep deviate from normal levels.
Both changes show that artificial intelligence agents and health monitoring are an important part of Apple’s future product roadmap.
Samsung’s exploration around health is just one example of how a new generation of artificial intelligence is becoming a more important part of consumer tech devices. Since OpenAI’s ChatGPT came into public view in November 2022, tech giants have been scrambling to incorporate AI into phones, laptops, search engines, productivity apps, and more.
Artificial intelligence is also expected to play a greater role in the healthcare industry in the next few years. Market research company Gartner predicts that by 2027, generative artificial intelligence will help clinicians reduce the time spent on clinical documentation tasks by 50%.
International Data Corporation’s U.S. Healthcare Provider IT Survey also found that 39.4% of provider respondents believe generative AI is one of the top three technologies that will impact healthcare over the next five years. The report is based on a March survey showing that 30.6% of healthcare provider respondents plan to increase overall spending on traditional non-generative artificial intelligence and machine learning.
For consumers, gen AI can help fitness trackers and their companion apps provide more precise insights rather than just output statistics, said Ramon T. Llamas, research director at IDC who studies wearables and other mobile devices.
“Do you want to spend the rest of your time collecting descriptive data? [like] When asked whether wearable tech companies would adopt gen AI for health-tracking apps, Llamas said: “Do you want to track your steps, your heart rate, your sleep, or do you want to go to the next level?” Its latest smartphone means It may be equipped with wearables and health apps to do this.
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Samsung is ramping up health and AI efforts
In recent years, health and fitness tracking have become a core focus area for Samsung Galaxy Watch.
Samsung has become increasingly vocal about its artificial intelligence and health tracking initiatives. In January, the company debuted the Galaxy Ring, a finger-worn fitness tracker that competes directly with the popular $299 Oura Ring, at its Unpacked event.
In a May press release, Junho Park, vice president of Samsung’s mobile experience business and head of the Galaxy ecosystem product planning team, called new Galaxy Watch features such as energy scoring “just the beginning.”
Samsung has partnered with health-oriented LL.M.s, although these efforts are not intended for consumer products but rather the healthcare industry. Samsung subsidiary Harman announced the launch of a large-scale language model called HealthGPT last October, positioning it as a tool for “healthcare professionals, researchers and institutions.”
In its mid-quarter business report that ended in March, the company also pointed to its Samsung Health platform as an area of growth.
“Samsung Health will strengthen its position as a comprehensive health management platform through new form factors and artificial intelligence functions,” the document said.
Talking about the overall next-generation artificial intelligence strategy, Samsung began to launch Galaxy AI in 2024, a set of artificial intelligence functions for Galaxy phones that can handle tasks such as editing photos, instantly translating calls, and rewriting text messages. Won-Joon Choi, head of Samsung’s mobile experience business R&D office, said in a blog post in June that the company plans to “further optimize” its Galaxy AI capabilities for upcoming foldable devices this year.
“Artificial intelligence is permeating every aspect of people’s lives,” said Lamas, a mobile industry analyst. “And it’s not going to stop.”
