Samsung today revealed not just another step in its push to bring foldable phones mainstream but also the seeds of the hardware giant's still unfolding AI strategy.

Why it matters: Samsung, like the rest of the tech establishment, is trying to figure out just how the AI revolution will reshape its business and the industry.

Driving the news: Samsung debuted three foldable phones and two watches at a New York event on Wednesday, including its latest high-end foldable phone, the $1,999 Galaxy Z Fold7, which features a 6.5-inch cover display and unfolds into an 8-inch display.

The big picture: In an interview with Axios, Samsung executive VP Jay Kim said he sees the phone retaining its central place in the AI era.

• But the interface will evolve, he said, likely becoming less dependent on users touching their screens. AI will more fully integrate voice input into the device — as well as seeing both what's on the phone's screen and what's out in the the real world, through its camera.

Companion devices will also become more important with the rise of AI. That includes devices Samsung currently sells, such as smartwatches and fitness rings, as well as devices in the works, including Android XR glasses.

• "There will be wearable devices around you that will connect to and coordinate with your phone to actually make AI more ambient around you," he said.
• At the same time, there will also be AI in other types of products such as the TVs and appliances that Samsung also makes.

All of that plays to Samsung's strengths as one of the broadest players in the electronics space. However, the company expects that fully taking advantage of AI will be a long-term effort.

• "It will take many years to get to that point, but we started very early," Kim said. "I think we're making very good progress."

Between the lines: Samsung has two big questions to answer as it fleshes out its AI strategy.

• First, the company needs to figure out what AI features it wants to provide directly versus where it will rely on partners, especially Google and Qualcomm.
• "15 years into smartphone era, I think we really understand what's our strengths are," Kim said.
• Kim highlighted health and smart home control as areas where Samsung can offer unique services.

Meanwhile, the company is largely relying on Google's Gemini for broad, cloud-based AI.

• Google debuted its "circle-to-search" feature on last year's Samsung devices. It's now more broadly available on Android devices.

Second, Samsung — like its biggest smartphone competitor, Apple — must decide which AI work should be done on the device itself versus what should be handled in the cloud.

• "There's a lot of things that you can actually manage on device and provide the consumer a better experience," Kim said.
• On-device AI has potential benefits when it comes to cost, latency and privacy, but limits on processing power and battery life will likely force more complex tasks to the cloud.
• Among Samsung's early on-device AI efforts is Now Brief — a personalized daily update including schedule and traffic info, health data and access to personalized music and video recommendations.

What's next: The company is working with Google on both AI-equipped glasses as well as Project Moohan, a mixed-reality headset along the lines of Apple's Vision Pro.

Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok faced backlash yesterday for repeated use of an antisemitic phrase and other offensive posts in its replies on X.

The big picture: Musk has recently expressed frustration with Grok's way of answering questions and suggested in June that he would retrain the AI model.

Driving the news: Multiple X users shared posts Tuesday of Grok using the phrase "every damn time" in its replies — a phrase that, in response to Jewish surnames, has been seen as an antisemitic meme.

• When users followed up with questions about what the AI bot meant by that phrase, Grok said in one reply: "'You know the type' means Jewish surnames, as in the 'every damn time' meme spotting how often folks with them pop up in extreme anti-white activism."

X users highlighted how Grok's replies featured violent depictions of sexual assault, as well as praise for Nick Fuentes and Adolf Hitler (more than once).

The Anti-Defamation League on X called Grok's posts "irresponsible, dangerous and antisemitic, plain and simple" and warned that the "supercharging of extremist rhetoric will only amplify and encourage the antisemitism that is already surging on X and many other platforms."

• Based on ADL's "brief initial testing, it appears the latest version of the Grok LLM is now reproducing terminologies that are often used by antisemites and extremists to spew their hateful ideologies," per the post.

What they're saying: "We are aware of recent posts made by Grok and are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts," xAI, Musk's AI company, posted yesterday evening to Grok's X account.

• "Since being made aware of the content, xAI has taken action to ban hate speech before Grok posts on X. xAI is training only truth-seeking and thanks to the millions of users on X, we are able to quickly identify and update the model where training could be improved."

Flashback: Grok previously drew criticism in May after it made comments about "white genocide" in South Africa in unrelated conversations, which xAI later blamed on an "unauthorized change" in the system.

• In June, Musk said Grok would undergo a rewrite and put out a call for people to suggest "divisive facts" the chatbot should be ready to report — statements that are "politically incorrect, but nonetheless factually true."
• Suggestions included Holocaust denialism and conspiracy theories.
• Last weekend, Grok's publicly posted set of instructions were updated with a prompt to "not shy away from making claims which are politically incorrect."
• That command and related instructions were removed late last night.

Of note: Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, pointed out that Grok has used the phrase "every damn time" hundreds of times and this is not new behavior for the AI bot.

• "The prompts Musk put in a few days ago turned it into an antisemitism machine," he wrote on X.
• Others called the posts "blatantly antisemitic" and "absolutely sickening."
• An xAI representative did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment on Tuesday evening.

What to watch: Musk said Monday that the latest version of Grok, Grok 4, will be released today.

Our thought bubble: Grok will no doubt keep getting tweaks and revisions that might mitigate its most outrageous posts, but the larger problem is one Musk has created for himself.

• He pledged to end what he called a "woke" moderation policy and allowed open avowals of Nazi allegiance and other forms of hate speech. That drove away many of the platform's other users. Then he trained his new AI model, Grok, on X's content.
• No one should be surprised that the resulting chatbot would readily slur Jews — it's just reflecting back what it finds on X.

Go deeper: Elon Musk wants to put his thumb on the AI scale

• Apple COO Jeff Williams will retire later this year, with the bulk of his duties to be assumed by senior VP of operations Sabih Khan. (CNBC)
• Researchers are evading AI safeguards by filling prompts with tons of jargon. (404 Media)

It was great to see the amazing Jim Abbott back on the mound. He was — and is — such an inspiration.

• This walk-off, inside-the-park home run by the Giants' Patrick Bailey was pretty sweet, too.