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Samsung's Neon 'artificial human' isn't coming to phones anytime soon

The human-like AI is headed to businesses for now.
By
December 14, 2020
Samsung NEON Logo 1 of 1
TL;DR
  • Samsung Neon won’t appear on the Galaxy S21 or any other Galaxy device in the near future.
  • The artificial human is meant for business use and will release as an API in 2021.

If you were hoping to chat with Samsung’s virtual human being Neon on your phones anytime soon, we’re here with some disappointing news. According to Pranav Mistry, the architect of Samsung’s Neon project and CEO of STAR Labs, Neon will not make it to the Galaxy S21 or any other Galaxy device anytime soon.

The so-called ‘artificial human’ will, however, be available for businesses in 2021 as an API that integrates its real-time conversational capabilities in mobile apps and websites.

Samsung Neon availability tweet
Pranav Mistry/Twitter

Mistry’s latest comments follow his previous announcement (and subsequent withdrawal) about Neon’s availability on smartphones. He had tweeted back in November that he was already using the tech on his phone and that we’ll be able to see it before Christmas. However, he quickly “clarified” that Neon isn’t meant for the general public after rumors started floating around that we might get to see it on the Galaxy S21 flagships.

Neon’s CES 2020 presentation was also a hot mess and we haven’t really heard about any efforts to democratize the tech since then. Whether Samsung plans to bring it to consumers in the future is anybody’s guess, but from what we saw of the AI-powered human back in January, the idea doesn’t seem to match the execution.

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