Samsung's AI-powered care service for older adults coming in June

Samsung is set to launch an AI-powered Family Car service in June designed to support older adults through connected devices and appliances.

A Samsung Electronics employee gives a briefing to Korean press on Tuesday at its Customer Experience Innovation Lab in Suwon, Gyeonggi. [SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS]

“No movements have been detected from your parents' house this entire morning, which is unusual,” reads an alarm on your Galaxy smartphone.

A camera-equipped robot vacuum, under your control, roams about the parents' house to check on them.

This is just a slice of Samsung Electronics' upcoming Family Care service which has been designed, at least initially, to take care of elders through AI-powered connected devices and appliances at home.

The service will become accessible on Samsung Electronics' SmartThings platform in June with continuous updates in the coming months.

“This year, we were able to obtain consumer credibility in AI through AI smartphones, AI screens, on top of other home appliances such as AI Combo and AI Steam,” Alex Lim, corporate executive vice president of Samsung Electronics Korea Sales & Marketing, said Tuesday at the company's Customer Experience Innovation (CXI) Lab in Suwon, Gyeonggi.

“Family Care will be the first step in solidifying Samsung Electronics' leadership in AI products and solutions by helping seniors.”

The CXI Center, opened to the press for the first time since its establishment in 2022, has a dozen rooms. Half of them simulate a real home equipped with Samsung appliances, allowing employees to experience the products for themselves and, hopefully, come up with ideas to make them better.

The remaining rooms are themed around subjects such as sports, games and music and serve as areas for employees to test both Samsung's own products and those of its rivals.

TVs, refrigerators, water purifiers, induction devices and smartphones belonging to older adults can be monitored and controlled by their offspring, upon agreement, through SmartThings. AI allows the devices and appliances to analyze certain patterns of the user's lifestyle and send alerts if irregularities are spotted.

Samsung Electronics says it will launch a similar service catered to single households and newlyweds, among others, in the future.

“We have studied all scenarios, but since priority differs depending on the region and time, we are currently focusing on senior care, which will resonate with families in Korea,” said Samsung Electronics Senior Vice President Huh Tae-young, who leads the CX-MDE Center.

“In Southeast Asian countries, for example, where there are a lot of single households, we are focusing on security or energy savings. Those services will be introduced one by one.”

Although not fully, user can control third-party home appliances through SmartThings platform by utilizing Home Connectivity Alliance (HCA) standards that have been set by some 15 home appliances companies including LG Electronics, Vestel and Sharp.

“Basic AI functions will be possible for control,” Huh said, discussing third-party HCA products, “but controlling some of the very detailed and hidden functions of Samsung products will be also our differentiating points.”

BY JIN EUN-SOO [jin.eunsoo@joongang.co.kr]