Samantha Samsung is Everyone's New Favourite Virtual Assistant
Or rather waifu
BY: JOLENE TEO
(Not) An Art Hoe
Image credits: Lightfarm Studios and photobash by Singaplex
Brunette mid-length hair, gorgeous blue eyes with a mole beneath the left eye, freckled cheeks, edgy piercings on her ears, a friendly smile and all in three-dimensional Pixar-like rendition - meet the Samsung girl, Samantha Samsung. Designed by Lightfarm Studios in partnership with Cheil, a marketing company owned by Samsung, it is unclear as to whether Samantha a.k.a. Sam was meant to replace Bixby as Samsung’s virtual assistant or to be used separately as a mascot for marketing campaigns. Unfortunately, despite her good looks, SAM was reportedly rejected by Samsung and has also been taken down from Lightfarm Studios’s website *cue sad weeb noises*.
Image credits: Twitter user @SuperSatanSon
Based on the now-deleted images recovered by hardworking social media users, Sam can be seen as a young slim woman wearing a black Samsung logo t-shirt and mid-shin length trousers. She is characterized as cheerful and tech-savvy using several Samsung products ranging from a phone to a laptop and tablet. She was created using a mix of Adobe and other editing software applied to photographs and digital paintings.
Image credits: Twitter user @louxtenyaiida
“Throughout the process, the team devoted itself to developing realistic materials, mainly for the character’s hair and clothing, so that Sam appeared aesthetically pleasing.”
Virtual assistants like Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, and Google’s Google Assistant are slowly becoming a part of our daily lives, but they have never had visual representation thus far and have only taken the form of voices on a device’s speakers. Samsung’s Bixby has paled in comparison to its competitors, but Sam could have changed that perception, as many on the internet fell in love with the leaked design of the attractive character.
Image credits: Twitter user @SuperSatanSon
The positive response led to many reactions on social media such as fan art and cosplay created based on the character, though some of the user generated content were NSFW and probably not the type of reaction Samsung would have wanted.
Fan Art
Fan renditions of Sam started popping up all over social media, ranging from 2D to 3D and in many unique styles, because fans just can’t get enough of her.
Cosplay
Some cosplayers have also decided to bring Sam one step closer to reality by dressing up as her.
Memes
Capturing the hearts of many, Sam has become the internet’s new waifu and dethroned Lady Dimitrescu from “Resident Evil 8” which led to several memes.
Apparently Sam is already an official “virtual assistant” in the form of a chatbot on Samsung Brazil’s website, with multiple Reddit posts claiming she has been for quite some time. It is unsure as to whether she will be rolled out in other regions, but for now you can converse with her in Portuguese where she will auto-respond to consumer questions and queries. She even has an official Youtube channel with 5.42K subscribers but no videos at the moment.
JOLENE TEO | (Not) An Art Hoe
Jolene Teo is a contemporary and modern art enthusiast, writer, curator, and cultural researcher. She enjoys exploring the areas inbetween art, design, critical narratives, pop culture, and the cult of collecting. She is socially awkward but will talk to you about plants, art, anime, and life. Some part of her still wishes she can become an artist one day. Send her memes @joteo_
