By Kellen
Publication Date: 2026-01-20 15:31:00
The betas of One UI 8.5, as well as supposedly leaked screenshots, showed a potentially renewed investment in Bixby from Samsung, one that will allow the on-device assistant to act as a device agent powered by AI. That AI agent was rumored to be able to control a lot of on-device settings, but if your query required more, Samsung would lean on Perplexity AI.
This morning, Samsung officially announced the new Bixby AI agent, as well as the connection with Perplexity AI. However, they’ve since pulled the press release, but we are still able to view it at this time.
In the press release (which we’ve included below), Samsung confirms that the “New Bixby” will arrive in One UI 8.5. Again, beta builds have showcased the new Bixby, but this is the first time Samsung is publicly announcing its arrival.
The new Bixby will be able to control a lot of what happens on your device with you talking to it more naturally. Think of it as an assistant that can change settings without you knowing exactly what the setting is called. That’s how Samsung describes the feature, which sounds pretty basic in that regard. Honestly, it sounds like a waste of energy, but maybe people are regularly talking to their phones about settings?
Where this gets more powerful is in the connection to Perplexity AI. Should you want to find information that is not on your device, Samsung will lean on Perplexity AI to find it via the web. If you want to look up “hotels in Seoul that have…
