Consumers may have to pay to use AI features in their smartphones in future to defray “huge costs” involved in developing and delivering the technology.
The news emerged on Friday as a Samsung executive revealed the company was weighing up whether to offer artificial intelligence services as subscriptions after 2025.
Those features could include real-time language translations, voice transcription and automatic text summaries.
The announcement came days after Microsoft revealed plans to charge for access to the latest versions of its AI service, Copilot, and amid predictions that generative AI would continue to dominate headlines and technology this year.
Samsung executive vice-president YJ Kim commented on the company’s vision for generative AI services one day after launching its first smartphone offering access to the technology.
He said while AI played a large role in the Galaxy S24 range, Samsung had yet to decide whether it would charge customers to access the phone’s AI services in the future.
“Developing and upgrading our (AI) model incurs a huge cost as well as the operational costs for server or cloud-based solutions,” he said.
“We may need to re-evaluate our different choices. However, as it stands, at least until 2025 we have decided to provide our AI features free of charge.”
Mr Kim said a decision on whether to offer some services on subscription was made difficult by the unpredictability of the technology.
“AI technology is advancing at a very rapid pace so, at this point, we cannot imagine in the future what kind of services it will provide and deliver,” he said.
Possibilities for future AI services included personalised chatbots that could speak or write according to the owner’s own voice patterns, and an AI upgrade to Samsung’s smart assistant Bixby.
Microsoft this week launched paid subscriptions for its Copilot AI chatbot.
The Copilot Pro service, which will cost $US20 ($30) per month in Australia, will give subscribers priority access to new versions of the technology, access across Microsoft programs and the use of advanced AI image software.
Access to the market-leading AI service, Chat GPT, remains free of charge, although users can subscribe to a premium service for access to more tools and use during busy times for $US20 a month.
University of NSW AI Institute chief scientist Toby Walsh predicted the technology would continue to dominate headlines, and new hardware and software launched in 2024, as it had become critical to business growth.
“It's going to help grow the Australian economy by two-thirds by the end of this decade,” he said.
“That's an immense benefit it’s going to bring into our lives so it's hard to see a slowing down.”
Research from the Tech Council of Australia last year found AI technology could contribute $115 billion to the nation’s bottom line by 2030 by improving businesses and creating new products.
The reporter travelled to San Jose as a guest of Samsung.
