- Amazon has acquired Bee, a startup building AI-powered wearable devices that record conversations to generate reminders and to-do lists.
- Bee’s device comes as a bracelet or Apple Watch app, offering low-cost AI features compared to other wearable startups.
-
The acquisition raises privacy concerns, especially since Bee continuously records audio, though it claims not to store or use recordings for training.
Amazon has acquired Bee, a rising startup in the AI wearables space that developed a device capable of recording conversations and generating reminders in real time. The acquisition was confirmed by Bee’s co-founder Maria de Lourdes Zollo in a LinkedIn post and later by Amazon to TechCrunch, though the deal is yet to officially close.
Bee gained attention last year after raising $7 million in funding. The company offers two main products: a $49.99 wristband (with a $19/month subscription) and an Apple Watch app, both designed to continuously record audio unless muted manually to help users manage tasks, remember conversations, and receive contextual reminders.
A Vision for Ambient Intelligence
Bee’s vision is to build what it calls a “cloud phone,” essentially a digital twin of a user’s smartphone, with access to notifications, accounts, and personal data. This would allow the wearable to send messages, remind users of events, and offer proactive support based on real-world conversations.
“We believe everyone should have access to a personal, ambient intelligence that feels less like a tool and more like a trusted companion,” the company states on its website.
A Growing Market for AI Wearables
Bee enters a competitive yet unproven market of AI-enabled wearables. Other companies, like Rabbit and Humane AI, have tried to build similar devices, but with limited success — in part due to high price points and usability challenges. Bee’s lower-cost approach may help it gain traction with early adopters.
All Bee employees are expected to join Amazon following the acquisition, according to the company. While Amazon is best known for its Echo smart speakers, this move signals a broader ambition to enter on-the-go AI hardware, potentially rivaling efforts by Meta, Apple, and OpenAI.
Privacy Concerns and Future Implications
Bee’s always-on recording model naturally raises concerns about privacy and surveillance. While the company says users can delete their data at any time and that audio is not stored or used for AI training, it does retain some data to improve personalization. Bee also claims to only record individuals who have verbally consented, and is working on features that would automatically stop listening based on location or sensitive topics.
Still, Amazon’s history with user data has been mixed. The company has previously shared Ring camera footage with law enforcement without user consent or warrants and has settled FTC claims over employee access to private video data.
Whether Bee’s current privacy practices will remain unchanged under Amazon’s ownership remains unclear.
العربية (Arabic) To read the article in Arabic, click here
