Fifty years after introducing its first refrigerator, washing machine and air conditioner to the world, Samsung Electronics is set to take its home appliance offerings to a new phase with Bespoke AI, which is platform-specific rather than being product-specific. The company is looking at having a major chunk of its sales by 2025 through AI-powered appliances.

Moving from device-specific AI, like the washing machine changing its spin cycle depending on the fabric, to platform-specific AI where home appliances working together help consumers save energy, reducing environmental impact.

The appliances feature Smart Forward, a service bringing the newest features and updates through regular software updates. “On smartphones you get OS and security updates. There is an expectation that digital appliances also need to be updated over a period of time. Every smart device which is connected to Bespoke AI will get OS updates,” said Dipesh Shah, managing director of Samsung Research Institute, Bengaluru.

JB Park, president and CEO, Samsung Southwest Asia.

Keeping the environment in mind

In Samsung’s SmartThings app, users can find out the level of carbon emission taking place through the devices that are being used. The number of devices we use has increased and so has the consumption of electricity. With Bespoke AI, you can set, for example, Rs 2,000 as expenditure on electricity on a certain number of appliances. The AI platform can then monitor the usage of the devices and show you a “trend line as to how your electricity consumption is likely to reach by the end of a month” and when you don’t hit the target, the platform will try to optimise settings, like the compressor temperature can be optimised on the AC without compromising on the comfort level.

With an optimised energy-saving method using AI algorithm based on usage patterns, AI Energy Mode can give up to 10 per cent energy savings in refrigerators, up to 20 per cent in air conditioners and up to 70 per cent in washing machines. With Bespoke appliances, Samsung is also reducing CO2. For example, a five-star rated Samsung refrigerator reduces CO2 emission by 359kg/year, and with AI Energy Mode, the savings increase by 10 per cent, reducing the overall CO2 emission by 395kg/year.

The appliances will use a range of sensors, recognition technology, data analytics tools and the Tizen OS. Further, the company supports the connectivity standard Matter, which is a specification for how devices talk to each other.

The Bespoke Al platform is seen working with the Samsung refrigerator.

“If users don’t have devices that are Matter compatible, there is Samsung Hub sitting in the company’s television or refrigerator. Devices that are not Matter-compatible can talk to the Hub, which will help with the compatibility factor. Besides Matter, we follow Home Compatibility Alliance and Zigbee. There is no one protocol through which you can use Samsung’s Bespoke AI. You can have any device in your home that can be made to use with Bespoke AI through one of these standards,” said Shah.

One of the elements Samsung has to tackle in India involves areas with patchy Internet service. When you are at home, your smartphone and the device can connect to tackle automations and within the products, there are a bunch of AI tools that can work when the Internet is patchy.

Bespoke can also make the best use of Samsung Food, which is a personalised, AI-powered food and recipe platform from the company. If you have set health targets within the Samsung Health app, like calories you want to burn, the Food app can recommend recipes on the Samsung Family Hub refrigerator based on the ingredients that are in the refrigerator. If you choose a recipe, instructions then can be sent to the microwave to prepare food.

Detecting problems through sensors

Bespoke AI will also go through the data collected by the many sensors on different smart devices to detect potential servicing needs, allowing users to act on problems even before they show up. Such strategies will help increase the longevity and sustainability of appliances. For example, users get notified when their refrigerator is due for water filter replacement or the air conditioner needs a filter change through the SmartThings App. With the introduction of AI, Samsung aims to reduce the time required to manage these appliances.

The connected appliances can work through Samsung's app.

“There are advocates you create by selling these (AI-enabled) appliances. You will not find everyone buying these devices at the same time. Given the affordability factor, it’s not difficult to buy these products. If you go to someone’s house and find a home appliance connected to Bespoke AI, there will be adoption,” said Saurabh Baishakhia, senior director, digital appliance business, Samsung India.

In 2019, Samsung debuted its first Bespoke appliances where panels could be changed depending on the look of the apartment and so on. Bespoke AI is a new platform altogether to usher in a new era of AI appliances. Also, the SmartThings connectivity app remains and works in tandem with Bespoke AI.

Fundamental to the Bespoke AI platform is privacy and security. Every product will be Knox secure, so as and when the OS gets updated, no compromises will be made. The company has something called Knox Matrix in which every device on the network gets to know the security status of each item.

AI vision?

What kind of home appliances are we talking about? Samsung’s Bespoke appliances in India, including refrigerator, air conditioner, microwave and washing machine, are now powered by AI.

Take the case of the Bespoke-enabled refrigerator. It comes with AI vision camera to help in automatic food recognition of up to 33 food items initially. The number of items that can be identified will increase over time depending on the storage done by the user over time. With smart food management system, users can know when a specific food item in the refrigerator is about to expire.

With Welcome Cooling function for the air conditioner, users can cool their home even from a distant location. AI Geo fencing allows users to set commands and the SmartThings application will send you a notification to start or turn off your appliances when you are within a specified range or moving away from the range. The specified range is between 150 metres to 30 kilometres.

Samsung’s strategy, it appears, is to maximise the connectivity between mobile devices and home appliances. The company is already offering a number of AI features on the latest Galaxy S24 series phones (many of the features are now being rolled out to older devices).

Before you prepare your food, the app can inform you about the ingredients in the refrigerator.

Meanwhile, earlier this week, Won-joon Choi, executive vice-president at Samsung’s mobile business, said that the company may add generative AI technology to its voice assistant Bixby. “One of the benefits of generative AI is to have a natural conversation with your devices, so that’s something you can expect with Bespoke AI. Bixby will be supported on the devices but the generative AI aspect will be an evolution.” There is no timeline when Bixby may get generative AI features.

“With our Bespoke AI-powered home appliances, consumers will be able to customise their choices, get easy controls for elders and kids, and get seamless diagnosis for their home appliances. With the transformative power of AI, we are confident that Bespoke AI will strengthen our leadership in the digital appliances market in India,” said JB Park, president and CEO, Samsung Southwest Asia.

Bespoke AI to the rescue

Refrigerator: It comes with AI vision camera that helps in automatic food recognition of up to 33 food items initially. The number of items that can be identified will increase over time depending on the storage done by the user over time. With wider coverage, not only refrigerator shelves, but door bins are also captured creating a ‘View Inside’ the refrigerator from anywhere, anytime.

Air conditioner: With Welcome Cooling function for Air Conditioner, users can cool their home even from a distant location.

Microwave: Personalising diet recipes, Bespoke AI helps automatically customise the recipe to a ‘low fat’ version.

Washing machine: With AI Control, Samsung’s new front load washing machine learns laundry routines over time and evolves its wash cycles to suit users’ habits.