Samsung Electronics is showcasing an AI assistant this coming Sunday at SXSW 2018 Trade Show, and surprisingly, we are not talking about Bixby here. The South Korean tech giant is unveiling a visualized 3D character assistant at the event as part of the new technologies its C-Lab (Creative Lab) program is currently working on. The Galaxy S9 maker recently took to its online newsroom to announce that three new innovative projects from C-Lab will be showcased at SXSW 2018 from Sunday, March 11, through Wednesday, March 14. The company has disclosed that it will be exhibiting the new AI technologies at Stand #1538 in Exhibit Hall 3 of the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas. One of the C-Lab creations that will be present at Samsung's booth is Aurora, a smartphone app and deck that features a visualized 3D character assistant.

Imagine buying a burrito, and getting charged extra for gua-... wait, that's a bad example. Imagine receiving a car for free, but it can only drive at 20 miles per hour. If you wanted to accelerate, you'd have to invite at least five friends to visit the dealership. Alternatively, you could pay ten dollars to accelerate to 30 mph, or pay twenty dollars to accelerate to 50 mph. Don't laugh - with autonomous cars just on the horizon, we may not be too far from such a reality. The digital realm is peppered with similar examples of "Freemium" payment models - offering a mediocre product for free that can be improved by emptying your wallet (making it "premium").