Samsung's AI privacy switch didn't stop Bixby from sending my voice to its servers

Samsung has introduced an AI feature called "Process data only on device" for its Galaxy S26 Ultra smartphone. This feature aims to ensure that none of the AI requests made through the phone leave its hardware. However, a reporter tested the claim by monitoring all connections made by the phone while using Samsung's AI tools. The report found that despite the switch being turned on, every command spoken by the user still reached Samsung's servers.

The report specifically tested Photo Assist, Brief, and Bixby, three AI features included in Samsung's Galaxy AI suite. While Photo Assist edited photos without sending any data from the phone, Brief and Bixby both communicated with Samsung's servers even when the switch was activated. The reporter typed three web questions into Bixby, each sending approximately 17KB of data to a Samsung server. Brief's actions were similar, sending about 540KB of data total when 10 commands were spoken.

The report also found that Bixby's real-time web search is powered by Perplexity, a third-party search engine. Even though the exact location of the question and the subsequent answer were not tracked, Samsung's servers do receive and forward the queries. Moreover, Bixby sends voice commands to Samsung's servers rather than processing them locally, contradicting the promise of offline processing.

Samsung's US privacy policy confirms that voice recordings are collected on their servers when voice commands are used. The report suggests that the switch's name, "Process data only on device", could be misleading as it appears to cover the whole phone, but in reality, it only applies to specific AI features. The report concludes that users seeking a truly private experience with Samsung's AI features must manually enable offline processing for Bixby, a feature that is not easily found in the device's settings.