Samsung Electronics has brought the age of generative AI to its home appliances, with a new range of fridges that can create shopping lists, display TikTok videos and locate misplaced phones.

The flagship Bespoke French-Door four-door refrigerator can feature either a 9-inch or 32-inch Family Hub+ display and features internal sensors that can detect 37 types of fresh food and 50 types of processed food.

The device can create shopping lists based on which foods it things will spoil first, sending the list to the screen or a user’s phone.

Advanced AI

The enhanced, voice-operated Bixby AI assistant can recognise the voice of different individual family members when asked to locate their phones, and ring the correct device, Samsung said at its Bespoke AI conference in Seoul.

The fridge can also activate home air conditioners or window blinds with voice commands, or can make adjustments itself based on real-time weather data.

Samsung’s new line of wall ovens feature internal sensors and cameras that can analyse what’s being cooked and, after the same recipe has been made five times, lets a user save the process.

Users can also create a time-lapse video of a dish being cooked.

Dishwashers, vacuum cleaners and washing machines also have new AI-powered features, allowing them to use sensors to improve what they are doing.

Moon Jeong-seung, head of research for Samsung’s digital appliance business, said the company expects AI integration to boost appliance sales this year.

Not everyone is convinced by such features, with Public Interest Research Group, a consumer advocacy group, adding Samsung’s Bespoke AI-powered washing machine to a list of the “Worst” offerings at the Consumer Electronics Show in January.

‘Wasteful’

“Samsung’s latest AI-powered washing machine comes with features no one needs, like the ability to make phone calls. These add-ons only make the appliance more expensive, fragile, and harder to repair,” commented PIRG senior director Nathan Proctor at the time.

LG’s AI-powered refrigerator received similar criticisms at the show, with Gay Gordon-Byrne, executive director of The Repair Association, arguing that features such as a screen and internet connection mean “shorter software support, higher energy consumption, and expensive repairs” that “reduce the fridge’s practical lifespan, leaving consumers with an expensive, wasteful gadget”.

The CES “Worst in Show” awards, organised by iFixit, gave LG’s AI Home Inside 2.0 Refrigerator with ThinkQ the “Overall” worst award.

In January Samsung announced a new range of Galaxy smartphones with integrated AI features.