With the launch of Samsung’s first Galaxy Ring and Galaxy Watch Ultra in Paris at Galaxy Unpacked, Samsung’s health plans are taking center stage. They can be described as ambitious and grounded in the realities of our changing global demographics, the limits of what people will wear, and the current state of AI.
Overseeing a heady mix of new health measures, conversational AI and a pair of new wearables about to be tested in a market crowded with alternatives is Dr. Hon Pak, vice president and head of the digital health team for MX Business at Samsung Electronics, a dermatologist and the man who leads Samsung’s health team.
He acknowledges that perhaps the biggest challenge is guiding us on our path to health care.
“Everyone knows what they have to do, and we find it a bit difficult. That’s why our goal with our products and software is to simplify healthcare as much as possible,” Pak said during a panel discussion in Paris.
Simplicity is a theme Pak has repeatedly returned to. It may seem counterintuitive with watches that can now not only measure heart rate, sleep, activity level, heart rate variability during sleep, blood oxygenation and a host of other metrics, but also offer, among other things, sleep apnea detection and a new energy score.
Pak didn't necessarily disagree with the idea that perhaps this is all becoming too much for consumers who may be less interested in scores than in results.
“We’ve already gotten that feedback on the original test of what we wanted to rank. So we’re modifying it to make it more understandable. I think the bigger issue you’re raising is whether we’ve put in too many scores, too many ideas, whether we’re confusing people and how do we simplify this, because that’s our path anyway.”
Pak told me that this trip would eventually include an exit to a simpler place.
“One of the things we’re actively planning is, ‘Can we create a goal-based user experience where when a person signs up for Samsung Health, regardless of what devices they have, they say, ‘This is my goal, this is what matters to me. ’ Based on priorities and preferences, we start to focus on what’s important to you.”
I think the bigger question you're asking is, have we put in too many ratings, too many ideas, are we confusing people?
Of course, that’s all part of an undetermined future. In the meantime, Samsung will be training its new Galaxy Ring and Galaxy Watch Ultra (and Galaxy Watch 7) customers on a host of new AI-powered features, measurements, scores, and interactions that serve a broader purpose.
The world is changing — aging, actually. There are millions of people entering old age or senior years just as the cost of healthcare is skyrocketing, and there is a distinct shortage of healthcare workers. Dr. Pak told us that the theater of care is shifting from hospitals and care facilities to the home. The tools and insights produced by Samsung Health are designed to help “understand who we are, where we are in terms of different health parameters that help us change the right behaviors to the extent that we can prevent the onset of some of these diseases so that we can thrive as we age,” Pak said.
While Samsung Health spans devices and is made up of countless features, some of the key new features could change the way you view your wellbeing.
Perhaps the most interesting is the least quantifiable: it's a new energy score. And before you start imagining comparing your energy score to a friend's, you should know that there is no “gold standard” for it.
Developed by the University of Georgia, Energy Score starts by using the sensors in the Galaxy Watch 7, Galaxy Watch Ultra, and/or Galaxy Ring to read the quality of your heart rate, sleep, sleep heart rate score, and sleep heart rate variability. When you wake up in the morning, Samsung Health presents you with a score that seems to indicate your readiness for the day.
But Samsung is upping the ante here with the introduction of its first health-based LLM, a conversational AI that can analyze the score and offer suggestions on what can be done to improve the health rating. For now, it doesn’t use other data collected on the phone or watch. “Right now, the work is focused on sensors,” Dr. Pak said. “You have to tread carefully because of privacy sensitivity.”
Still, it’s an important moment for Samsung’s AI advancement and efforts to use various generative touchpoints and AI to build a complete picture of you — not to enrich third-party data collection efforts, but to assist you.
“The Energy Score is our first step toward using AI to create a more comprehensive view of the four pillars of health,” Pak said.
While your energy score, which may have other factors such as age involved, is not directly comparable to anyone else's, Dr. Pak agreed that some normalization and perhaps even an average, based on collected data, to construct some sort of average energy score, could emerge at some point.
One of the things we're actively planning is, “Can we create a goal-based user experience where when a person signs up for Samsung Health, regardless of what devices they have,
Dr. Pak, and perhaps Samsung, seem open to change and adjustment, as long as they have enough data, understand how people use these systems, and can keep user privacy intact. Simplicity and a frictionless experience are important.
When we talked about the hurdles that must be overcome to, say, take an ECG or SpO2 reading (staying perfectly still and keeping several fingers on the smartwatch), Dr. Pak told me, “We’re looking to move away from on-demand to trying to be passive.”
What struck me most during our conversation was that Dr. Pak didn’t focus on the new Galaxy Ring. Yes, he talked about the concave design and how that brings the sensors closer to the finger, and that a ring makes sense because not everyone wants to wear a smartwatch to bed. But the stated goal isn’t a smart ring on every finger. It’s the broader adoption of Samsung’s ecosystem that could translate into greater health insights for consumers. Dr. Pak told us he sees the potential for synergies when Samsung’s wearables are worn together. Perhaps, he told us, if you wear the Galaxy Ring and Galaxy Watch together, the accuracy of sleep tracking increases.
Hardware, software and AI working together to passively recognize health issues and then, in conjunction with an LLM and conversational AI, offer mitigation insights is the long-term dream.
“We're not trying to be a ring company, we're not trying to be a watch company, what we're trying to be is a company that cares about people in their everyday lives and that we offer the best of these devices that meet the needs of these people, which vary,” said Dr. Pak.
