Samsung used IFA in Berlin to make the living room more than a screen — it announced Vision AI Companion, a unified, multimodal AI layer for its 2024–2025 TVs and smart monitors that folds advanced on‑device vision and audio features together with cloud‑backed generative agents such as Microsoft Copilot and Perplexity, promising to reduce the reflexive habit of “grab your phone to look that up” by letting viewers ask the TV directly and receive large, glanceable visual answers on screen. (news.samsung.com)
Samsung first teased the concept of Vision AI at CES earlier this year as part of a broader push to make displays “screen‑aware” and contextually helpful. At IFA 2025 the company turned that concept into a concrete productized experience — Vision AI Companion — and laid out a hybrid architecture that runs latency‑sensitive perceptual tasks locally while routing generative, long‑context reasoning to partner cloud agents. The rollout is staged as a software update for selected 2024–2025 models, beginning in late September in Korea, North America and selected European markets. (news.samsung.com)
This is more than a voice search add‑on. Samsung’s pitch is that a TV can become a social, shared, conversational surface optimized for distance viewing — answers will appear as large visual cards paired with voice, and the system will preserve context across follow‑ups so you can hold a multi‑turn exchange about what’s on screen. Samsung frames Vision AI Companion as an evolution of Bixby into a visual‑first assistant and, crucially, as an orchestration layer for multiple third‑party agents rather than a single locked assistant. (news.samsung.com)
However, the success of this initiative depends more on execution than concept. Key success factors are: transparent privacy controls and retention policies; clear multi‑profile boundaries on shared devices; robust, low‑latency integrations with partner clouds; consistent regional rollouts; and an interaction model that respects the varied preferences of living rooms (not everyone wants an animated voice assistant in their entertainment). Any failure in these areas will limit adoption and invite regulatory and reputational scrutiny. (techradar.com)
Source: GadgetGuy Samsung adds AI to its TVs so you can put your phone down
Samsung first teased the concept of Vision AI at CES earlier this year as part of a broader push to make displays “screen‑aware” and contextually helpful. At IFA 2025 the company turned that concept into a concrete productized experience — Vision AI Companion — and laid out a hybrid architecture that runs latency‑sensitive perceptual tasks locally while routing generative, long‑context reasoning to partner cloud agents. The rollout is staged as a software update for selected 2024–2025 models, beginning in late September in Korea, North America and selected European markets. (news.samsung.com)This is more than a voice search add‑on. Samsung’s pitch is that a TV can become a social, shared, conversational surface optimized for distance viewing — answers will appear as large visual cards paired with voice, and the system will preserve context across follow‑ups so you can hold a multi‑turn exchange about what’s on screen. Samsung frames Vision AI Companion as an evolution of Bixby into a visual‑first assistant and, crucially, as an orchestration layer for multiple third‑party agents rather than a single locked assistant. (news.samsung.com)
Overview: What Vision AI Companion promises
At a functional level, Vision AI Companion bundles several capabilities into a single interface that users can summon with the remote’s AI or mic button:- Conversational Q&A with context and follow‑ups — ask about what’s on screen, follow up, and receive continuous replies.
- On‑screen visual intelligence — identify actors, artwork, products or locations and surface related clips or information.
- Live Translate — near‑real‑time subtitle and dialogue translation, implemented to minimize latency by using local models where possible.
- AI Picture and AI Upscaling Pro — perceptual image improvements and automatic picture tuning for different content types.
- Active Voice Amplifier Pro — audio tuning to improve clarity in noisy environments.
- AI Gaming Mode — adaptive settings for latency and responsiveness during gaming.
- Generative Wallpaper — text‑prompted generative background imagery for ambient or idle display.
- Third‑party agent apps — embedded, selectable agents such as Microsoft Copilot and Perplexity that handle web retrieval, summarization and multi‑turn generative answers. (news.samsung.com)
How it works technically: hybrid edge + cloud
Samsung’s stated architecture is a hybrid model designed to balance responsiveness and capability:- Local on‑device processing handles perceptual tasks that must be snappy or work offline: Live Translate (for broadcast/antenna content), upscaling algorithms, adaptive audio and some recognition tasks.
- Cloud partner agents handle large‑context generative tasks, web retrieval, and personalization/memory features: Microsoft Copilot and Perplexity are surfaced as standalone agent apps inside the Vision AI shell and perform heavy reasoning or web‑backed synthesis in the cloud.
Agent strategy: pluralistic assistant model
A central strategic point is that Samsung is not locking the experience to a single assistant. Instead, Vision AI Companion is deliberately multi‑agent:- Microsoft Copilot — positioned as the conversational, entertainment‑centric assistant for content discovery, spoiler‑safe recaps, and light productivity on Smart Monitors (calendar/email previews). Copilot appears as an animated on‑screen persona optimized for shared viewing. Early vendor materials and industry coverage list Micro LED, Neo QLED, OLED, The Frame (and Pro variants), and Smart Monitors M7, M8, M9 among supported devices. (news.samsung.com)
- Perplexity — offered as an “answer engine” agent that emphasizes retrieval‑augmented summarization; reporting around Samsung’s commercial relationship with Perplexity has been active but some investment/preload claims remained unconfirmed at announcement time. Treat deeper commercial ties as reported but not fully verified.
- Google’s Gemini — already embedded in many Galaxy AI experiences and noted as part of Samsung’s partner stack for on‑device Galaxy features; Samsung’s multi‑vendor approach keeps Gemini in the mix for phone/edge experiences.
Models, rollout and availability
Samsung has committed to a staged software update model rather than shipping the feature only on new hardware. Known details include:- Vision AI Companion will roll out as a software update beginning in late September for eligible TVs and smart monitors in Korea, North America and selected European markets, with phased expansion thereafter. (news.samsung.com)
- Copilot has already appeared on several 2025 Samsung smart monitors (M9, M8, M7) and is slated to expand to additional TV models by the end of the year; availability and feature parity will vary by market and model. Confirm model support before assuming a particular TV will receive every Vision AI feature. (techradar.com)
- Samsung emphasizes a seven‑year software upgrade promise for supported models via One UI on Tizen, but that guarantee applies to software updates rather than hardware‑level performance or all feature parity across different regions. Read the fine print for model exclusions. (news.samsung.com)
UX design: social, distance‑first, with an animated companion
Samsung’s UX choices reflect the reality that TVs are usually shared devices:- Answers appear as large, legible visual cards optimized for couch distance rather than the dense microcopy used on phones.
- Copilot and other agents can appear with animated personas (a lip‑synced character for Copilot has been shown in demos) intended to make interactions feel more natural in a group setting.
- The QR‑sign‑in mechanism reduces friction for multi‑user households and supports personalization without typing on a TV remote.
Privacy, data governance and security — the hard questions
Bringing generative agents and cross‑device personalization into a shared household device raises immediate and nontrivial privacy concerns:- What is processed locally vs. sent to the cloud? Samsung’s materials emphasize a hybrid model, but they do not publish full telemetry or retention policies. Users need clear settings that show which queries are routed off‑device and how long logs are retained.
- Account linkage and multi‑user privacy: QR sign‑in is convenient, but shared devices require robust per‑profile privacy boundaries so one household member’s Copilot memories or calendar snippets aren’t exposed to others. Implementation details and default settings will determine actual risk.
- Third‑party data handling: Using Microsoft Copilot or Perplexity means user queries, optional personalization data and retrieval metadata may be shared with partner clouds. Users should be able to opt out and inspect/delete stored memories or personalization affordances.
- Network and attack surface: Enabling generative agents increases the functional attack surface for TV ecosystems. Home network segmentation, firmware update provenance, and device monitoring are prudent operational steps.
Performance, connectivity and real‑world constraints
Vision AI Companion’s hybrid design is sensible, but real‑world utility depends on infrastructure:- Network dependency — cloud‑backed agent features (Copilot, Perplexity) require reliable broadband; in areas with inconsistent connectivity the experience will be degraded or limited to on‑device features.
- Latency and UX expectations — the promise of “instant answers” will vary with network latency and partner backend load; snappy local tasks (translation, upscaling) should remain reliable but generative queries may be slower than phone‑scale interactions.
- Updates and feature parity — software updates will be staggered by region and model. Expect delays and partial feature availability in some markets. Confirm the Samsung support page and model release notes once updates become available. (news.samsung.com)
What this means for Windows users and IT pros
For Windows‑centric households and IT professionals, two practical points are worth noting:- Smart Monitors as productivity endpoints — Copilot’s presence on Samsung Smart Monitors (M7, M8, M9) extends light productivity features (calendar/email previews, short summaries) to large displays that may sit on desks. This can complement PC workflows but is not a PC replacement; Copilot on a monitor is optimized for quick, glanceable tasks rather than full document editing.
- Account linking and enterprise risk — if a Microsoft Account is used to personalize Copilot on a shared living‑room device, corporate data leakage risk is nominal for single‑user households but nontrivial for mixed personal/corporate account use. IT teams should counsel employees to avoid linking corporate accounts to shared home devices and ensure MFA and account protections are in place if any cross‑device personalization is used.
Strengths: what Samsung gets right
- Unified experience for common tasks. Vision AI Companion packages discovery, translation, personalization and media‑aware tuning into a single invocation flow — a real convenience for many users. (news.samsung.com)
- Hybrid edge/cloud design. Prioritizing local processing for latency‑sensitive media tasks is practical and preserves playback quality even when cloud features lag.
- Ecosystem orchestration. Allowing multiple agent choices (Copilot, Perplexity, existing Gemini integrations on Galaxy) reduces single‑vendor lock‑in and positions Samsung as the platform orchestrator.
- Accessibility promise. Live Translate and large, legible visual cards can make foreign‑language and captioned content more accessible for broader audiences. (news.samsung.com)
Risks and limitations
- Privacy transparency gaps. Samsung and partners must publish granular telemetry, retention and deletion policies; without those, trust will be limited.
- UX polarization. An animated avatar and audible replies may be unwelcome in many living rooms. The design risks alienating users who prefer media without AI interruptions.
- Network dependency and variability. The cloud‑dependent parts of the experience will vary widely across households; the “phoneless” convenience will be inconsistent where broadband is poor.
- Commercial and investment claims needing caution. Reports around Samsung possibly investing in Perplexity and preloading the agent on Galaxy phones were circulating, but those specific corporate finance claims were not fully confirmed at announcement time and should be treated as unverified pending official confirmation.
Practical checklist for buyers and early adopters
- Confirm your TV/monitor model is explicitly listed as receiving Vision AI Companion or Copilot in your region.
- Update firmware only from Samsung’s official update channel; check release notes for feature lists and any known limitations.
- Test QR sign‑in and per‑profile privacy settings; verify how and where “memories” or personalization data are stored and cleared.
- Segment smart devices on your home network and enable monitoring for new device traffic to partner clouds.
- If corporate accounts are involved, avoid linking them to shared living‑room devices and use separate personal accounts for personalization.
- Try the experience before enabling persistent personalization features (memory, long‑term cross‑device syncing).
Early reactions and industry context
Press and hands‑on coverage expresses a mix of fascination and skepticism. Reviewers praise the convenience for discovery and accessibility, but some commentators question whether most users actually want to converse with a TV versus using a phone for quick lookups. The animated “companion” motif recalls past interface experiments (some compared it to Clippy), which will affect adoption depending on household norms. Tech commentary also notes this move is part of a broader industry trend: TVs and appliances becoming nodes in an “AI Home” where devices act as ambient assistants rather than single‑purpose hardware. (tomsguide.com)Final analysis: opportunity balanced by execution risk
Vision AI Companion is an ambitious, pragmatic attempt to make the TV a genuinely helpful part of daily life rather than a passive display. The package — local image/audio enhancements plus cloud generative agents — is technically sensible and strategically important: it gives Samsung a flexible platform that can surface best‑in‑class agents while keeping latency‑sensitive tasks local. The convenience gains are real for use cases like actor lookup, spoiler‑safe recaps, group recommendations and real‑time translation. (news.samsung.com)However, the success of this initiative depends more on execution than concept. Key success factors are: transparent privacy controls and retention policies; clear multi‑profile boundaries on shared devices; robust, low‑latency integrations with partner clouds; consistent regional rollouts; and an interaction model that respects the varied preferences of living rooms (not everyone wants an animated voice assistant in their entertainment). Any failure in these areas will limit adoption and invite regulatory and reputational scrutiny. (techradar.com)
Conclusion
Samsung’s Vision AI Companion reframes the TV as an active, conversational hub that aims to remove the reflex to “put your phone down” by giving viewers distance‑legible, visualized AI answers at the push of a remote. The combination of on‑device perceptual features and cloud‑backed agents (notably Microsoft Copilot and Perplexity) is an astute technical design for living‑room scenarios, but the user value will be determined by transparent privacy practices, consistent regional rollouts, network performance and whether households embrace a more talkative TV. For Windows users and IT pros, Vision AI Companion brings pragmatic desk‑side benefits via Smart Monitors while amplifying the need for account hygiene and network segmentation in mixed home/work setups. Confirm model support, test privacy settings, and treat any investment or preload rumors as unverified until formally confirmed by Samsung or its partners.Source: GadgetGuy Samsung adds AI to its TVs so you can put your phone down