While digital assistants like Apple's Siri or Samsung's Bixby have been around for a while, their abilities have been limited. Companies are now looking at ways to infuse such virtual helpers with AI, following the emergence of ChatGPT and large language models (LLMs), which are trained on huge amounts of data and underpin conversational chatbots.
Honor's competitors are taking similar steps. TM Roh, the head of Samsung's mobile division, told CNBC that the company will be unveiling a further upgraded Bixby this year that uses the South Korean technology giant's own LLM. Apple is also gearing up to roll out Apple Intelligence which has an improved Siri, though it is unlikely to come to China this year.