Artificial intelligence is no longer a future promise; it is already built into the devices we carry, wear and live with. The idea of ‘Phono Sapiens’ has been hard to escape for several years, as smartphones have become must-carry companions. Now, with artificially intelligent phones, computers and smart home devices, AI is everywhere — a fact that was abundantly clear at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.
JB Park, president and CEO of Samsung Southwest Asia, had plenty to unpack on the subject when he met a select group of journalists at Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas.
Every few months, AI models make substantial gains, and it is difficult to foresee where companies such as Google or OpenAI will be in a couple of years. At the same time, the hardware required to run these models is evolving along a fixed trajectory, raising a key question: Will a device bought today be capable of handling future AI demands?
“Starting from 2026, we have enabled Wi-Fi across all of our home appliances to make them connected. Secondly, we are adding a screen — a nine-inch screen — to all (premium) refrigerators and washing machines. Of course, we do not have an interactive display on air conditioners, but we do have Wi-Fi. That means every home device can be connected with your smartphone and also the television,” Park told this newspaper.
He added that scale would be crucial to the AI transition. “As TM Roh (co-CEO, Samsung Electronics) mentioned in his ‘First Look’ announcement, about 400 million mobile devices already have AI, and he expects 800 million to have AI globally by the end of this year. That is the future. AI will be across all of our devices above a certain price point through Wi-Fi connectivity.”
These devices, Park explained, would be tied together through SmartThings. “They will be able to use SmartThings, which supports an engine to monitor, manoeuvre and control devices in a very energy-efficient way, and communicate both ways so you can have easier access to it.”
India’s growing role in Samsung’s
AI ambitions
At the heart of Samsung’s product philosophy are users. The aim is to help people live better lives through advanced technologies that support wellbeing, creativity and self-expression.
This long-term outlook explains Samsung’s heavy investment in research and development. India, in particular, plays a central role in the company’s future AI strategy. Samsung currently employs more than 10,000 engineers in the country.
“We have our consumer electronics–focused R&D in Delhi, mobile R&D in Noida, and in Bengaluru we work on more advanced technologies across multiple categories. The role of these R&D centres is to upgrade software, architect systems and develop solutions that can be used both in India and globally,” said Park.
He said the company was actively reshaping its workforce for the AI era. “We are transforming our engineers to be more AI-centric. India has abundant resources and many brilliant students who are capable of making global contributions. We have more than 10,000 engineers, plus we have another 4,000 that are doing the architecture for the semiconductor team in Bengaluru.”
According to Park, India’s role has evolved significantly over the decades. “In the 1970s and 80s, it was all about manufacturing, production and efficiency. Now the industry has shifted towards software engineering.”
Samsung, he said, views Samsung Research, Bengaluru, with the same importance as Samsung Research America in Silicon Valley. “Should Bengaluru become like Silicon Valley? I think it will happen. It’s already happening with the talented resource that we source from all around India. We use the ‘Solve for Tomorrow’ CSR activity to bring the younger generation with dreams and a vision to become an engineer. As a learning experience, we give them the opportunity of thinking about problem-solving. So there is a lot of investment from Samsung; from the elementary school to colleges on giving them a dream, what they are capable of and we support them to become one of the brilliant CEOs like in Microsoft and other US companies. I think India is and will be dominating the future of software and AI engineering.”
Privacy, platforms and Bixby
Unlike most technology brands, Samsung operates across multiple verticals — from smartphones and laptops to refrigerators, washing machines, televisions, healthcare solutions and audio devices. AI now runs through all of them.
At CES, the company demonstrated how AI-driven personalisation is being combined with hardware-led performance improvements across its home appliance portfolio. These enhancements are designed to adapt appliances to individual usage patterns through interoperability within the home ecosystem. Binding it all together is Bixby, Samsung’s virtual assistant.
“We have an overall advantage because Bixby controls Galaxy AI, Bespoke AI and Vision AI,” said Park. “Bixby is the on-device command layer, supported by the SmartThings engine and the Knox Guard, which takes care of privacy. These systems learn about you — rather than you learning how to control the machine.”
Bixby, he explained, would sit above Samsung’s platforms in much the same way as other voice assistants. “It becomes the companion for what we call ‘AI Living’, powered by Bixby. You activate it with a voice command, and it assists with consumer requirements across devices.”
That naturally raises questions around privacy, particularly with Samsung’s collaboration with Google and the integration of Gemini through Cloud services.
“I think that Android... a platform run by Google, it’s their data, right? We do not have access to it,” Park said. “But it’s an integration of our on-device commands that we use through Bixby that enable a pathway or a window that the command can be transferred to the operating system. So should we say Google shares their data with Samsung? I don’t think so.”
He clarified that Samsung’s data analysis focuses on usage patterns rather than personal information. “How often do you open your refrigerator? Do you unload your washing immediately, or leave clothes sitting for hours? These are the patterns we analyse. This helps us design better technology and improve future products. Our on-device data is not shared with partners like Google. It is our data and very safely managed.”
The conversation also turned to hardware — specifically the Galaxy Z TriFold smartphone, which journalists had experienced earlier that day. The triple-fold device is not coming to India, despite the market’s importance to Samsung.
“There are only two countries where the TriFold is currently sold, and we recently added Dubai and Singapore as the third and fourth,” Park said. “We are not selling globally, even in Europe or in South American countries. It’s not available anywhere except Korea and the US market, which are the dominant markets, and some to Dubai and Singapore. But when is the right time to bring in a technology? This is not limited to TriFold, but any devices that is premium like our XR where we collaborated with Google.” Manufacturing scale, he said, is the deciding factor.
Park never forgets that the idea is to develop powerful, emotional connection with products. And AI for him will perhaps its true potential when guided by emotional intelligence and human imagination.