Amazon Acquires Bee: The AI Wearable That Records Everything You Say

Amazon acquires Bee, the AI wearable that records everything you say | TechCrunch

Amazon has acquired the AI wearables startup Bee, according to a LinkedIn post by Bee co-founder Maria de Loudres Zollo. Amazon confirmed the acquisition to TechCrunch, but noted that the deal has not yet closed. Bee, which raised $7 million last year, makes both a standalone Fitbit-like bracelet (which retails for $49.99, plus a $19-per-month subscription) and an Apple Watch app. The product records everything it hears -- unless the user manually mutes it -- with the goal of listening to conversations to create reminders and to-do lists for the user. Zollo told TechCrunch last year that the company hopes to create a "cloud phone," or a mirror of your phone that gives the personal Bee device access to the user's accounts and notifications, making it possible to get reminders about events or send messages. "We believe everyone should have access to a personal, ambient intelligence that feels less like a tool and more like a trusted companion. One that helps you reflect, remember, and move through the world more freely," Bee claims on its website. Other companies like Rabbit and Humane AI have tried to make AI-enabled wearables like this, but have not found much success thus far. But at a $50 price point, Bee's devices are more cost-accessible to a curious consumer who doesn't want to make a big financial commitment. (The ill-fated Humane AI Pin was $499.) An Amazon spokesperson told TechCrunch that Bee employees received offers to join Amazon. This acquisition signals Amazon's interest in developing wearable AI devices, a different avenue from its voice-controlled home assistant products like its line of Echo speakers. ChatGPT maker OpenAI is working on its own AI hardware, while Meta is integrating its AI into its smart glasses. Apple is rumored to be working on AI-powered smart glasses as well. These products come with a number of security and privacy risks, given that they record everything around them; different companies' policies will vary in terms of how voice recordings are processed, stored, and used for AI training. In its current privacy policies, Bee says that users can delete their data at any time, and that audio recordings are not saved, stored, or used for AI training. The app does store data that the AI learns about the user, however, which is how it can function as an assistant. Bee previously indicated that it planned to only record the voices of people who have verbally consented. Bee also says it's working on a feature to allow users to define boundaries -- both based on topic and location -- that will automatically pause the device's learning. The company also noted that it plans to build on-device AI processing, which generally poses less of a privacy risk than processing data in the cloud. It's not clear if these policies will change as Bee is integrated into Amazon, however -- and Amazon has a mixed record on the handling of user data from its customers' devices. In the past, Amazon shared footage with law enforcement from people's personal Ring security cameras, with neither the owner's consent, nor a warrant. Ring also settled claims in 2023 brought by the Federal Trade Commission that employees and contractors had broad and unrestricted access to customers' videos.

Amazon buys Bee AI wearable that listens to everything you say

Emma Roth is a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO. Amazon is acquiring Bee, a startup that puts AI on your wrist. Bee CEO Maria de Lourdes Zollo says on LinkedIn that the company is joining Amazon to help "bring truly personal, agentic AI to even more customers." Bee makes a $49.99 Fitbit-like device that listens in on your conversations while using AI to transcribe everything that you and the people around you say, allowing it to generate personalized summaries of your days, reminders, and suggestions from within the Bee app. You can also give the device permission to access your emails, contacts, location, reminders, photos, and calendar events to help inform its AI-generated insights, as well as create a searchable history of your activities. My colleague Victoria Song got to try out the device for herself and found that it didn't always get things quite right. It tended to confuse real-life conversations with the TV shows, TikTok videos, music, and movies that it heard. When asked about Amazon's plans to apply the same privacy measures offered by Bee, such as its policy against storing audio, Amazon spokesperson Alexandra Miller says the company "cares deeply" about customer privacy and security. "We've been strong stewards of customer data since our founding, and have never been in the business of selling our customers' personal information to others," Miller says. "We design our products to protect our customers' privacy and security and to make it easy for them to be in control of their experience -- and this approach would of course apply to Bee." Miller also notes that the deal isn't yet closed, and its terms are "confidential." All Bee employees have "received offers to join Amazon."

Can Amazon finally make AI wearables happen? This buzzy new device could be its best bet

If you have ever used an AI transcription service for meetings, calls, lectures, or more, you know how good the technology is at capturing every detail of a conversation and converting it into text. Now, imagine a world where you could access an AI-generated transcription of every real-world interaction you have. Enter the Bee AI wearable. On Wednesday, Bee CEO Maria de Lourdes announced via LinkedIn that Bee is joining Amazon. The concept behind Bee is simple: a $49 wristband equipped with mics and AI that is worn at all times to listen in on your everyday interactions, transcribe them, and provide additional insights like conversational search, action recommendations, and more. Also: Meta Ray-Bans vs. Oakley: I tested both smart glasses, there's a clear winner The details of the deal were not disclosed. However, Amazon's interest in making the purchase, paired with the release and popularity of other AI hardware products such as the Meta Oakley AI smartglasses, makes one thing clear -- AI-first hardware is about to have a big moment. The Bee AI-wearable is meant to be an AI companion that is passively with you at all times during the day. While at first, the product may sound invasive and superfluous, at CES 2025, I wore and demoed the wristband, and the real-world applications of the product became evident. Using audio, the wristband captures conversations all day unless manually paused with the button on it. It then gets to know you and provides AI summaries of your conversations, transcripts -- which you can parse using a chatbot interface -- and actionable insights. The battery is supposed to last seven days, enabling users to really use it as a companion without having to worry about recharging at different times during the day. The use cases are endless. An obvious example: being in a meeting and wanting to reference the notes later. Less so: things you wouldn't typically be able to refer back to, such as revisiting a previous conversation you had with a roommate in which they mentioned what they wanted you to get from the store, what name the person you just met was, or even when your friend said their birthday was. You can even get feedback on how you handled a situation, asking something like "How could I have reacted better in that situation?" Naturally, people may have concerns about having a wearable listen to them at every moment during the day. When I spoke to co-founder Ethan Sutin at CES, he reassured me that no humans can see the conversations, and the data will not be sold or used for training. There are no details on what Amazon plans to do with the band, and it is very possible the final product will look a lot different and more in line with the suite of existing Amazon AI products, including an integration into the Alexa ecosystem. Amazon is deeply involved in the AI space with its Nova foundation models, which could be integrated into the product to make it better. As generative AI becomes more ubiquitous, the technology has become increasingly embedded into products. Nearly every new phone, headphone, smartwatch, and wearable now has a generative AI feature or experience aimed at optimizing users' interactions with their devices. However, to bring AI assistance to the next level, you need a device that captures as much information as possible in real time, giving way to a new kind of product. This type of product has been attempted before, such as the Rabbit R1 or the Humane AI pin. However, one of the biggest problems with those launches -- beyond performance -- is that they required people to carry an extra device they typically wouldn't want to. As a result, we are seeing companies trying their hand at new form factors that can offer users easy AI access and experiences with subtly. Also: The 8 Pixel Watch 4 rumors I'm most curious about (and what they could mean for the smartwatch) OpenAI has a hardware AI product in the works, seen by its acquisition of the Jony Ive startup. At Google I/O 2025, Google gave more details about its Android XR glasses, which pack Gemini's assistance, in-lens displays, speakers, cameras, and mics into the form of traditional eyeglasses. Meta just partnered with luxury eyewear brand Oakley to release smartglasses embedded with Meta AI with even longer battery life, making it easier for users to always access an assistant. (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, ZDNET's parent company, filed an April 2025 lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.) As companies compete to release a wearable that makes AI the most accessible and appealing for users to add to their device rotation, this market is bound to become more saturated in the near future. You can keep up with my latest stories and tech adventures on social media. Follow me on Twitter/X at @sabrinaa_ortiz and on Instagram at @sabrinaa.ortiz.

Amazon Is Buying an AI Wearable That Listens to Everything You Say

The Fitbit-like device is a recorder that listens in to your conversations to automatically set to do list items and give you summaries of your conversations. Amazon may be looking to reenter the world of wearables, but this time it may be with an AI-focused product. The company is buying a startup called Bee that makes a fitness tracker-like device that records your everyday conversations to automatically make to do list items, summarize your relationships, and set other reminders. Bee's co-founder, Maria de Lourdes Zollo, announced the deal in a LinkedIn post, before Amazon then confirmed the news clarifying the deal has not yet closed. It's not clear how much Amazon paid to bring Bee in, but the company confirmed all Bee employees were offered roles at the larger company. Why would Amazon want Bee? It's likely looking to invest in the AI wearable space to go alongside its Amazon Echo speakers, Alexa assistant, and other AI projects. We've seen the introduction of different AI wearables over the last few years, such as the Rabbit R1 and Humane AI pin, but none of them have proven to be a runaway success. Bee's competitive edge over those products is its price with its Pioneer device costing $49.99. However, to use it there is a subscription cost of $19 a month. Alongside the wearable, Bee has its own Apple Watch app that works in a similar way, but you don't have to purchase a new device. The wearable gives you "summaries, personal insights, and timely reminders" from listening to your conversations. The brand says, "Bee sits quietly in the background, learning your patterns, preferences and relationships over time, building a deeper understanding of your world without demanding your attention." Tech critics have found the Pioneer works in some scenarios, but it has also struggled in others. For example, in The Verge's testing, they found the wearable couldn't easily distinguish between TV shows and real life conversations making for confusing summaries. The original Bee device has proved popular enough that you can't currently buy one until September. The big question with Amazon's purchase will be whether we'll see changes to the company's privacy stance. The company's current policy confirms you can delete your data at any time and recordings are never stored. It also says it doesn't use information from you to train AI models, and it doesn't share anything with third parties. That may change when folded into Amazon, so those using the Pioneer already will likely be watching closely. If Amazon does use Bee's tech to launch its own product, it wouldn't be the first time the company launched a wearable. Back in 2020, the brand tried a Fitbit-like product called the Halo, followed by the Halo View, before killing off its line of health trackers in 2023.

Amazon to buy startup focused on AI wearables

SAN FRANCISCO, July 22 (Reuters) - Amazon (AMZN.O), opens new tab has reached a deal to buy San Francisco-based Bee, a startup making an artificial intelligence-enabled bracelet to listen in on and transcribe conversations. Bee's $50 wristband can analyze and distill what it records to make summaries, to-do lists or other tasks. Amazon confirmed the deal on Tuesday following a post on LinkedIn by Bee CEO and co-founder Maria de Lourdes Zollo. The deal has not yet closed and Amazon declined to provide terms. A spokesperson said Amazon will work with Bee to give users more control over the devices, which are set to automatically transcribe audio but can be muted. "We imagined a world where AI is truly personal, where your life is understood and enhanced by technology that learns with you," said Zollo in her post. She did not immediately respond to a query on Tuesday. It was not Amazon's first foray into wearables. The Seattle online retailer marketed a line of wrist health trackers called Halo but ultimately killed the project in 2023. It also has a line of smart glasses embedded with Amazon's virtual assistant, Alexa, under its Echo brand. ChatGPT parent OpenAI bought former Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab designer Jony Ive's AI device startup called io for about $6.5 billion. Other startups have made early attempts at AI wearables, with mixed results. In her post, Zollo thanked Amazon devices executive Panos Panay, suggesting Bee would join his group when the deal closes. Much of Amazon's AI development is being conducted in its Amazon Web Services unit. Bee was founded in 2022. Reporting by Greg Bensinger in San Francisco; Editing by Matthew Lewis Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab * Suggested Topics: * Artificial Intelligence Greg Bensinger Thomson Reuters Greg Bensinger joined Reuters as a technology correspondent in 2022 focusing on the world's largest technology companies. He was previously a member of The New York Times editorial board and a technology beat reporter for The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. He also worked for Bloomberg News writing about the auto and telecommunications industries. He studied English literature at The University of Virginia and graduate journalism at Columbia University. Greg lives in San Francisco with his wife and two children.

Amazon to buy AI company Bee that makes wearable listening device

Amazon logo on a brick building exterior in San Francisco on Aug. 20, 2024. Amazon plans to acquire wearables startup Bee AI, the company confirmed, in the latest example of tech giants doubling down on generative artificial intelligence. Bee, based in San Francisco, makes a $49.99 wristband that appears similar to a Fitbit smartwatch. The device is equipped with AI and microphones that can listen to and analyze conversations to provide summaries, to-do lists and reminders for everyday tasks. Bee AI CEO Maria de Lourdes Zollo announced in a LinkedIn post on Tuesday that the company will join Amazon. "When we started Bee, we imagined a world where AI is truly personal, where your life is understood and enhanced by technology that learns with you," Zollo wrote. "What began as a dream with an incredible team and community now finds a new home at Amazon." Amazon spokesperson Alexandra Miller confirmed the company's plans to acquire Bee. The company declined to comment on the terms of the deal.

Amazon is acquiring an AI wearable that listens to everything you do

Amazon's latest move in the AI space is an acquisition. The company is purchasing a startup called Bee, which makes a wearable and an Apple Watch app that can record everything the wearer says. Amazon said that the deal has not closed and that the terms of the acquisition are confidential. Although the company did not provide specific numbers, it added that all Bee employees received offers to join Amazon. first reported this news based on a LinkedIn from Bee founder Maria de Lourdes Zollo. Bee presents its platform as a personalized AI assistant that passively learns from its wearer by listening to all of their conversations and activities. While the wearable does have a button to mute recording, it can theoretically observe every single thing the owner does or says. The app can then summarize daily activities, suggest to-do items or recall previously discussed details. Bee's also gives examples of using the assistant for personal growth, such as tracking successes or possible improvements as a parent. Amazon has had a mixed bag with wearables endeavors. It still sells smart glasses, but shuttered its health tracker in 2023. The AI angle of Bee may be of particular interest for Amazon, especially as the company pushes its generative AI assistant. The always-listening aspect of Bee also harkens back to Amazon's privacy debacle of a few years back when it had to concerns that employees were conversations recorded by Alexa, including some recorded by accident.

Amazon's latest acquisition is a $50 Fitbit-style device that never stops listening

Serving tech enthusiasts for over 25 years. TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust. What just happened? Amazon has announced that it will acquire Bee, a San Francisco-based startup known for its wearable AI device. The planned purchase signals the tech giant's renewed ambitions in what has become a crowded market for smart personal assistants. Founded in 2022, Bee gained attention for its $50 wristband, designed not just as a fitness tracker, but also as a personal digital assistant. Unlike traditional wearables, Bee's bracelet captures and transcribes conversations around the wearer in real-time. Using a combination of in-house and third-party AI models, the device distills discussions, reminders, and tasks into summaries available through a companion app. It operates quietly on a single charge for days and can create a searchable log of daily life, synthesizing information from communications, calendar events, and even photos if the user gives permission. The acquisition comes at a time when major tech firms are racing to invent the next breakthrough in AI-driven consumer technology. OpenAI's recent $6.5 billion acquisition of io, another wearable AI startup, underscores the growing conviction that AI will soon transition from desktops and phones to become an integral part of the body itself. In her announcement, Bee's CEO Maria de Lourdes Zollo described the vision of "truly personal" AI - technology that learns from the user and supports everyday life in a seamless way. For Amazon, the deal represents a return to a product space it recently exited. In 2023, the company discontinued Halo, its health-tracking wearable, amid intensifying competition and a broader refocus on its most promising hardware projects. Amazon officials have not disclosed the amount the company will pay for the startup, nor when the deal is expected to close. They have confirmed, however, that all Bee employees have received job offers as part of the acquisition. Both companies emphasize that users retain control over their data: the device can be muted at any time and does not store audio by default. Privacy, a long-standing concern in the field of voice technology, has been positioned as a top priority, with Amazon promising to uphold Bee's privacy standards and add new features to give users "even greater control" over their experience. With the recent relaunch of Alexa's AI capabilities, industry observers expect Amazon could one day integrate Bee's technology into the broader Alexa ecosystem. While similar attempts by other startups have met with mixed results, Amazon and Bee are betting that the promise of a truly proactive, personalized AI - one that remembers, reminds, and assists without constant input - will appeal to users seeking a smarter digital companion.

Amazon is acquiring Bee, maker of a wearable AI assistant that listens to conversations

Amazon is buying Bee, a small San Francisco startup behind a $49.99 wearable wrist device designed to record and transcribe conversations. Bee CEO and co-founder Maria de Lourdes Zollo announced the acquisition on LinkedIn, saying that deal will "help us bring truly personal, agentic AI to even more customers." "When we started Bee, we imagined a world where AI is truly personal, where your life is understood and enhanced by technology that learns with you," she said. "What began as a dream with an incredible team and community now finds a new home at Amazon." Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Bee is one of several startups developing wearables that listen to everything you say and turn recordings into summaries and insights. Bee also integrates email, calendar, contacts and more data. Bee says it does not store audio recordings and uses the "highest security standards." It's also testing on-device AI models. "We design our products to protect our customers' privacy and security and to make it easy for them to be in control of their experience -- and this approach would of course apply to Bee," an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement to GeekWire. Bee employees have received offers to join Amazon, according to the spokesperson. It's not clear how Amazon plans to integrate Bee into its existing devices or broader AI strategy. Other tech giants include OpenAI and Meta are developing personal AI assistant hardware and software products. Founded last year, Bee raised a $7 million round from Exor, Greycroft, New Wave VC, Banana Capital, and other investors. The company is led by Zollo and CTO/co-founder Ethan Sutin. Both previously worked at Twitter and Squad (acquired by Twitter).

Amazon buying the world's creepiest Apple Watch app and wearable, Bee

Amazon has confirmed it's in the process of buying Bee, an Apple Watch app and wearable that records everything it hears. The platform describes itself as "a personal Al that transforms your conversations, tasks, places and more into summaries, personal insights and timely reminders" ... The company's website has a banner saying that "Bee is joining Amazon," which links to a statement by founder, Maria de Lourdes Zollo. Bee is joining Amazon and we couldn't be more excited! When we started Bee, we imagined a world where AI is truly personal, where your life is understood and enhanced by technology that learns with you. What began as a dream with an incredible team and community now finds a new home at Amazon. Ethan and I couldn't think of better partners to help us bring truly personal, agentic AI to even more customers. While Zollo's statement makes it sound like the deal had completed, Amazon told TechCrunch that this isn't quite the case. Amazon confirmed the acquisition to TechCrunch but noted that the deal has not yet closed. However, the company did make the closure sound like a mere formality. An Amazon spokesperson told TechCrunch that Bee employees received offers to join Amazon. The acquisition does have obvious synergy for Amazon, effectively extending the reach of its Echo home speakers to the outside world. But it's unclear how the company will address the privacy issues created by a device which records all the conversations users have with other people. Bee has previously said it was working on a feature to limit recordings to registered voices, but there is as yet no mention of this option in the company's privacy policy.

Amazon buys wearable AI startup Bee, a wrist device that hears and transcribes every word you speak

A Fitbit-esque wearable to help you remember your day powered by AI As Amazon spends this year attempting to bolster its AI bonafides, the internet retail giant is reportedly acquiring Bee, a startup that makes an AI wearable for your wrist. The announcement was made by Bee CEO Maria de Lourdes Zollo on LinkedIn who wrote she "couldn't think of better partners to help us bring truly personal, agentic AI to even more customers." Amazon confirmed the acquisition in an email to Tom's Guide, though noted that the deal "isn't closed yet" and the two entities are still two companies. Bee is a recent startup that makes a $49.99 Fitbit-esque wrist device, dubbed the Bio Pioneer edition that is still in preorder and slated to launch in September. The device is meant to listen to your conversations through your day and then use AI to transcribe everything said by and around you. From there the AI agent will generate personalized summaries of your day plus reminders and suggestions in the Bee app. You can also let the Bee access your calendar, contacts, emails, location, photos and reminders to help the AI's insights and send information. With Amazon, we were told that Bee is working on a number of new features to "provide even greater control over" their devices. "We're excited to partner with the Bee team to continue inventing in this space," Amazon spokesperson Alexandra Miller said in an email. Some have tried out the device, The Verge's Victoria Song went hands on with the Bee and described it as a "glimmer of a good idea." She was skeptical that we need to record our conversations all the time and found that it confused real-life conversations with media playing in the background. Plus, there are privacy concerns around Bee, though Lourdes has said previously that Bee doesn't store any recordings. Before pre-sales opened the company emphasized that they wanted to profit via device sales and subscriptions. However, compared to the Humane AI Pin, Rabbit R1 and Friend pendant, Song did say the Bee is the "most successful AI wearable" she's tried with the cavaet that it's a very low bar. We reached out to Bee for comment on how it plans to partner with Amazon and its goals with the new partnership. They have not responded as of publication but we will update if they do.

What is Bee, the always-listening AI wearable acquired by Amazon?

Well, sort of, anyway, in the sense that it just bought a company that makes wearables for your wrist. That company is Bee, a startup that makes a $50 AI wearable. Bee co-founder and CEO Maria de Lourdes Zollo announced the acquisition in a post on LinkedIn this week, and Amazon confirmed the deal in a statement to TechCrunch, which noted that the deal is still being finalized. The terms of the deal are not yet public at the time of writing. As of Wednesday, the Bee website included a statement that read, "Bee is joining Amazon! We're incredibly grateful to our customers and community and we're excited to continue our journey with you." So, what the heck is Bee? The startup makes a $50, screen-free, always-on, AI-powered wearable microphone that you can wear on your wrist or clip to your clothing. It looks a little like a Fitbit fitness tracker, except this wearable is always listening (unless you manually mute it) and collecting data on your tasks, habits, and relationships. Using this data, Bee can create to-do lists and daily summaries for you in a mobile app. There are some interesting implications here. One is that Amazon might be looking into wearables and portable AI assistants, which until now have largely lived in Alexa-powered devices that are rooted at home. Another perhaps more important concern is that of privacy; these devices are always listening by design, making them potential privacy nightmares. According to Bee's policies, the company doesn't store any audio data on servers and users can delete their personal data. Amazon's plans for Bee are unknown, but Echo devices recently stopped allowing for local storage, and Ring has a controversial history with privacy. While big companies like Amazon and OpenAI are investing in AI devices, this product category has struggled to attract actual customers. Just think of high-profile failures like the Rabbit R1 and the Humane AI pin. Those devices both cost hundreds of dollars, while Bee's device is just $50, so maybe Bee can make headway where Rabbit and Humane could not. At any rate, Silicon Valley isn't done trying. In a post on Linkedin, Zollo wrote, "Bee is joining Amazon and we couldn't be more excited! When we started Bee, we imagined a world where AI is truly personal, where your life is understood and enhanced by technology that learns with you. What began as a dream with an incredible team and community now finds a new home at Amazon."

If you felt like Amazon could eavesdrop on you before, get ready to meet its AI wearable

Amazon's newly acquired wrist-worn AI listens to your life in case you want ambient surveillance Amazon is looking to make AI part of your daily life and has turned to the world of wearables to help. The tech giant has just acquired Bee AI, the maker of the eponymous device for your wrist or lapel that listens to everything happening around you. Bee's microphones and built-in AI transcribe it all in real time and make personalized summaries of your day and your stated upcoming tasks, and then make recommendations to improve your life based not only on what it hears, but the emails, calendar, contacts, photos, locations, and other data you allow it to access. People already make jokes about how they will be discussing a product with someone else in person and, seemingly by magic, it will appear in their recommended products on Amazon. That can usually be chalked up to coincidence and forgetting previous searches, along with being unaware of your app permissions. However, this may become part of Amazon's business model, prompting people to wear microphones to listen all day and pay $50, plus a $19 monthly subscription, for the privilege. Naturally, Amazon saw potential in Bee. Alexa has mostly been stuck inside the house despite attempts at smart glasses and other wearables. Bee is a chance for Amazon to make its AI a real-world concern, part of your actual conversations and routines, not just what you yell across the kitchen. That might be helpful, but it's impossible not to think about what it might mean in terms of privacy and trust. To be fair, Bee has a mute button you can hold down to pause recording when you need a moment of peace. But that assumes you realize you're about to say something you might not want permanently archived by Amazon. Bee listens and turns your life into searchable text. Although the company claims it doesn't retain the raw audio, the transcripts remain unless you delete them. I don't know if I want everything I mutter under my breath to be a searchable note. Not to mention whatever it might overhear from when I watch TV or movies at home. I get the appeal of a little AI that remembers everything so you don't have to. Remembering every chore and birthday would be great. But the line between deliberate memory aid and surveillance feels blurry with it. Especially when Amazon already has so much information. Although Amazon has promised to work with Bee, allowing users to have control over their data, the actual shape of that control remains unclear for now. And control is too often translated into a complex settings menu and paragraph of boilerplate text in the terms and conditions. I know plenty of people who would at least try out Bee, especially when it becomes an Amazon device with all the special sales and integration with the e-commerce site that implies. Perfect recall is a tempting commodity, but it has its price. If you're willing to pay it, then I say go for it. Not every microphone is the gateway to Skynet. But skepticism and caution are essential if you want something to sit on your wrist and transform the events of your life into data points that might help sell you products.

Amazon Acquires Bee and Its $50 Device That Turns Conversations Into To-Do Lists | AIM

In what marks the company's latest stride in the world of AI, Amazon has acquired the AI wearable startup Bee. Both the CEO and CTO of the startup announced the news on LinkedIn, while Amazon confirmed it to several media outlets. "When we started Bee, we imagined a world where AI is truly personal, where your life is understood and enhanced by technology that learns with you," said Maria de Lourdes Zollo, the CEO and co-founder of Bee. According to Crunchbase, the company has raised a total of $7 million across two funding rounds. For those unfamiliar with the company, reading Zollo's LinkedIn post raises questions about how the Bee AI wearable differs from existing devices, such as the Humane AI Pin or the Rabbit r1. This naturally leads to broader questions: What exactly does Bee do, and what sets their AI wearable apart? Bee offers a $49.99 wearable device that listens, summarises, and records sounds from a user's daily life. Worn as a bracelet, it records and transcribes conversations, which users can review later on their iOS app. Using the app, users can ask questions to interpret their recordings and gain insights. Bee can also be linked to Google accounts like Gmail and Google Calendar, to help it recognise who the user is communicating with and their location, enabling it to offer more relevant insights. It can also be used as a voice assistant, and the results can be heard on the iOS app. Source: Bee According to the company, the device lasts for seven days on a full charge and supports 40 languages. Their website states that it is currently available for shipping only in the United States. Before discussing how well the device works, or not, it certainly raises eyebrows when it comes to privacy. As tech YouTuber Becca Farsace puts it, "This device, that is designed to help me, creates far more questions about other people's privacy than my own." The company's privacy policy states that it does not store audio recordings and that all processing is done in real time, adhering to high security standards, with data being immediately deleted afterwards. Moreover, Bee explained that it also provides users with the opportunity to delete their data at any point in time, permanently. Addressing the question of whether users' data will be used for AI training or sold elsewhere, Bee said, "absolutely not." She added that it does not train an AI model with users' data, nor does it sell, monetise, or share it with third parties. That said, the company plans to address various concerns regarding its privacy, including those raised by Farsace. Bee said it is actively developing a 'fencing' feature, where users can set boundaries around what topics Bee is allowed to learn. "You'll have the ability to define topics that should never be processed, and designate physical locations where Bee will automatically pause learning," the company stated. Zollo mentioned to The Verge earlier this year that the company is working on a "liveness detection" update, which aims to prevent Bee from mistakenly interpreting broadcast messages as conversations. Moreover, these concerns aren't limited to just the Bee but also extend to devices like Meta's Ray-Ban glasses and Google's upcoming Astra glasses. Ethan Sutin, CTO of Bee, said on a podcast interview, "We kind of adapt to these new technologies all the time. When the Ring [doorbell cameras] came out, it was quite controversial, but now, people understand that lots of them have cameras on their doors." Sutin indicated that with more such devices coming out, users will be more aware of the devices they are subjected to and will change both their behaviours and expectations. He stated that regardless of local laws concerning consent for voice recording, the company takes extensive precautions to avoid capturing personal information of nearby individuals through speaker identification and similar features. Farsace, in a YouTube video review, stated that while the device allows one to manually tag all speakers in a conversation recorded by Bee, it faced difficulties in distinguishing them in the first place. "This confusion causes errors in its answers," she said, highlighting Bee's struggle in answering questions specific to a person in the conversation. "If it's not 100% accurate on its own, is it useful at all?" She also recounted her experience of being part of a conversation that involved a maximum of 15 speakers. Yet, Bee showed 34 people in the recorded conversation. Despite these occasional difficulties, Farsace pointed out that the device was indeed useful in some situations. For example, when she bought a wine she enjoyed but later forgot its name, Bee helped her find it based on transcripts of her conversations. "Bee also creates an ongoing list of suggested to-dos that are actually quite good and surprising," she said, speaking about how the device picked up on her travel plans in her conversations, and wrote them down in a to-do list. "These are the things that are important to me, but I would have never formally written down," Farsace added. Similarly, a review from The Verge stated that the device is 'most helpful' when it comes to summarising meetings and helping the user remember to do random tasks. Although the public reviews are a few months old, it is reasonable to expect several updates to enhance the user experience following Amazon's acquisition. The company has been regularly updating its app on the App Store, with numerous variants that include "minor bug fixes", as noted in the update descriptions. Besides, it is worth noting that the device is the company's first-generation model. AIM reached out to Bee and its CTO, Sutin, to understand if the company had improved the user experience and what the product roadmap looks like following the acquisition, but did not elicit a response at the time of publication.

Amazon buys wearable AI device maker Bee for an undisclosed sum - SiliconANGLE

Amazon buys wearable AI device maker Bee for an undisclosed sum Amazon.com Inc. is buying the wearable electronics startup Bee, officially known as Bluush Inc., for an undisclosed price, as part of a strategy to take the lead in more personal artificial intelligence services. The acquisition, which has not yet closed, was announced by Bee co-founder and Chief Executive Maria de Lourdes Zollo on LinkedIn, who proclaimed that the company couldn't have found a better partner to bring "truly personal agentic AI to even more customers." Bee, which launched earlier this year, is the developer of a smart bracelet device called the Bee Pioneer that's somewhat similar to Fitbit. The device sells for $49.99 per month and users must also pay a monthly subscription fee of $19.99. It acts like a very personal, wearable AI assistant that records all that the user says and everything else it hears, though it can be muted at any time. The idea is that, by listening, it gets to know users so it can create to-do lists, reminders and provide them with advice and tips. The company closed on a $7 million seed funding round in July 2024. Zollo told TechCrunch in an interview at the time that it intends to create a kind of "cloud mirror" of the users' smartphones, with access to all of their social media and email accounts, so it can provide timely reminders and tips and send messages on their behalf. According to Zollo, the startup wants to give everyone access to "personal, ambient intelligence" that feels like a "trusted companion," helping them to navigate their world more easily. Bee isn't alone in sharing this ambition, but it appears to have had more success than rival AI wearable startups such as Humane AI Inc. and Rabbit Inc., thanks to the low-cost nature of its devices. Humane AI's now-discontinued Pin, in contrast, was sold at a hefty price of $499, so it wasn't surprising that it ultimately went out of business. Rabbit is still around, but its R1 device costs four times as much as Bee's wristband at $199. Bee has always made a big deal about its privacy, conscious that consumers are likely to have a lot of concerns about a device that records everything they say and tracks where they go. Bee needs to store some information, of course, so it can do its job as a personal assistant, but in its privacy policy, it explains that it doesn't save or store user's audio recordings, and it doesn't use them for AI training. What it does do is save information that it learns about each user (like, a summary of what they talk about, the messages they receive and so on). But it notes that they can delete all of their data at any moment, should they choose to do so. Bee has also said it's planning to update its device so it only records the voices of those who have consented to it, but it does not appear to do this currently. In addition, it has said it's working on a feature that will allow users to set guidelines on what the device can and cannot record, based on different topics and locations. So the device would automatically switch itself off if the user ventures into their bedroom, for example. The startup is also looking to build a more powerful device capable of processing AI data internally rather than sending it to the cloud to be processed, which is something that will increase privacy for users. That said, it's not clear if Bee will retain these policies and goals now that it's set to be owned by Amazon. For its part, Amazon said in a statement that it "cares deeply" about user privacy and security. A spokesperson for the company told WinBuzzer that it has been a "strong steward of customer data" ever since it was founded, and pointed out that it has never been in the business of selling personal information to third parties. The spokesperson promised to work with Bee to give users "more control" over their devices. But it stopped short of saying it will adhere to its original policy of not storing audio data, so questions remain about how strong its privacy commitment really is. Amazon has previously stirred up controversy regarding its policies for the Amazon Ring security cameras, after sharing footage they recorded with law enforcement agencies without the owner's consent. The acquisition is a strategic move for Amazon and suggests it's a big believer in the idea that wearables will become the next big battleground for AI as it moves beyond the smartphone. It's not the only technology giant that seems to think so either. Meta Platforms Inc. recently invested $3.5 billion in its smart glasses partner EssilorLuxottica SA, which has been working with a number of big name eyewear brands to popularize the concept of ambient intelligence. Meta previously partnered with Bausch & Lomb Corp. to develop the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses and has already sold millions of those devices, illustrating the consumer appetite for intelligent wearables. It's now building on that with its new line of Oakley Meta sunglasses aimed at athletes. OpenAI is also looking at wearable hardware as a foundation for AI, but it's taking a different approach by acquiring io Products Inc., a somewhat secretive startup founded by former Apple Inc. Chief Design Officer Jony Ive. Prior to the acquisition, io was reported to be developing some kind of consumer AI device with no display, but it was never made clear exactly what form factor it would take. OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman didn't reveal much either, but instead articulated a vision of building "something beyond the legacy products we've been using for so long." Bee does not represent Amazon's first foray into wearable devices. In previously built a line of wristband health trackers called Halo, which were similar to Fitbit, but failed to make much of an impact and ultimately were discontinued it in 2023. It also sells Echo-branded smart glasses powered by its AI assistant Alexa.

Amazon buys wearable AI device maker Bee for an undisclosed fee - SiliconANGLE

Amazon buys wearable AI device maker Bee for an undisclosed fee Amazon.com Inc. is buying the wearable electronics startup Bee, officially known as Bluush Inc., for an undisclosed price, as part of a strategy to take the lead in more personal artificial intelligence services. The acquisition, which has not yet closed, was announced by Bee co-founder and Chief Executive Maria de Lourdes Zollo on LinkedIn, who proclaimed that the company couldn't have found a better partner to bring "truly personal agentic AI to even more customers". Bee, which launched earlier this year, is the developer of a smart bracelet device called the Bee Pioneer that's somewhat similar to Fitbit. The device sells for $49.99 per month and users must also pay a monthly subscription fee of $19.99. It acts like a very personal, wearable AI assistant that records all that the user says and everything else it hears, though it can be muted at any time. The idea is that, by listening, it gets to know the user so it can create to-do lists, reminders and provide them with advice and tips. The company closed on a $7 million seed funding round in July 2024, and Zollo told TechCrunch in an interview at the time that it intends to create a kind of "cloud mirror" of the user's smartphone, with access to all of their social media and email accounts, so it can provide timely reminders and tips and send messages on their behalf. According to Zollo, the startup wants to give everyone access to "personal, ambient intelligence" that feels like a "trusted companion", helping them to navigate their world more easily. Bee isn't alone in sharing this ambition, but it appears to have had more success than rival AI wearable startups such as Humane AI Inc. and Rabbit Inc., thanks to the low-cost nature of its devices. Humane AI's now-discontinued Pin, in contrast, was sold at a hefty price of $499, and so it wasn't surprising that it ultimately went out of business. Rabbit is still around, but its R1 device costs four-times as much as Bee's wristband at $199. Bee has always made a big deal about its privacy, conscious that consumers are likely to have a lot of concerns about a device that records everything they say and tracks where they go. Bee needs to store some information, of course, so it can do its job as a personal assistant, but in its privacy policy, it explains that it doesn't save or store user's audio recordings, and it doesn't use them for AI training. What it does do is save information that it learns about each user (like, a summary of what they talk about, the messages they receive and so on), but it notes that they can delete all of their data at any moment, should they choose to do so. Bee has also said it's planning to update its device so it only records the voices of those who have consented to it, but it does not appear to do this currently. In addition, it has said it's working on a feature that will allow users to set guidelines on what the device can and cannot record, based on different topics and locations. So the device would automatically switch itself off if the user ventures into their bedroom, for example. The startup is also looking to build a more powerful device capable of processing AI data internally rather than sending it to the cloud to be processed, which is something that will increase privacy for users. That said, it's not clear if Bee will retain these policies and goals now that it's set to be owned by Amazon. For its part, Amazon said in a statement that it "cares deeply" about user privacy and security. A spokesperson for the company told WinBuzzer that it has been a "strong steward of customer data" ever since it was founded, and pointed out that it has never been in the business of selling personal information to third parties. The spokesperson promised to work with Bee to give users "more control" over their devices, but it stopped short of saying it will adhere to its original policy of not storing audio data, so questions remain about how strong its privacy commitment really is. Amazon has previously stirred up controversy regarding its policies for the Amazon Ring security cameras, after sharing footage they recorded with law enforcement agencies without the owner's consent. The acquisition is a strategic move for Amazon and suggests it's a big believer in the idea that wearables will become the next big battleground for AI as it moves beyond the smartphone. It's not the only technology giant that seems to think so either, for Meta Platforms Inc. recently invested $3.5 billion in its smart glasses partner EssilorLuxottica SA, which has been working with a number of big name eyewear brands to popularize the concept of ambient intelligence. Meta previously partnered with Bausch & Lomb Corp. to develop the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses and has already sold millions of those devices, illustrating the consumer appetite for intelligent wearables. It's now building on that with its new line of Oakley Meta sunglasses, aimed at athletes. OpenAI is also looking at wearable hardware as a foundation for AI, but it's taking a different approach by acquiring io Products Inc., a somewhat secretive startup founded by former Apple Inc. Chief Design Officer Jony Ive. Prior to the acquisition, io was reported to be developing some kind of consumer AI device with no display, but it was never made clear exactly what form factor it would take. OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman didn't reveal much either, but instead articulated a vision of building "something beyond the legacy products we've been using for so long." Bee does not represent Amazon's first foray into wearable devices. In previously built a line of wristband health trackers called Halo, which were similar to Fitbit, but failed to make much of an impact and ultimately discontinued it in 2023. It also sells Echo-branded smart glasses powered by its AI assistant Alexa.

Amazon Acquires Startup That Makes Wearables to Summarise Your Chats

Bee CEO said the acquisition will enable the company to make agentic AI Amazon has acquired the San Francisco-based artificial intelligence (AI) startup Bee. The announcement of the acquisition was made on Tuesday by the Co-founder and CEO of the company, who highlighted that the move will enable the team to build "truly personal, agentic AI." Notably, Bee is a wearable AI company that builds devices that listen to the user and people around them, and summarises these conversations. It can also generate insights from the day, share to-do lists, and allow the user to chat about conversations via the companion app. The official website of Bee now shows a banner which says, "Bee is joining Amazon! We're incredibly grateful to our customers and community, and we're excited to continue our journey with you." Separately, company Co-Founder and CEO Maria de Lourdes Zollo posted on LinkedIn confirming the completion of the acquisition. In the post, Zollo said that Amazon will help the company bring "truly" personal agentic AI to more consumers. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed by either side. According to The Verge, all of the employees of Bee have received offers to join Amazon. Amazon spokesperson Alexandra Miller told the publication that the tech giant will work with Bee to provide users "even greater control over" their future devices. Highlighting the need to focus on user data privacy, the spokesperson reportedly added that Amazon will bring its approach of protecting users' privacy and security while giving them more control to Bee's devices. Before the acquisition, Bee's latest AI device was a Fitbit-like wrist strap with no display dubbed Bee Pioneer. Priced at $49.99 (roughly Rs. 4,300), the device can listen to everything users say and their conversations with others. Then using AI models, it transcribes the data to generate summaries of the important events, sets reminders and to-do lists, and even allows users to talk to the AI about the day and its various aspects. The device can also be worn in a variety of different ways, including as a clip on their clothes.

Amazon Is Acquiring Bee, an AI Wearable Startup That Sells a $50 Listening Device

Amazon is making a push into AI devices with a new acquisition. Amazon confirmed to TechCrunch on Tuesday that it is planning to acquire San Francisco-based Bee, an AI wearable startup, but noted that the deal has not yet closed. Bee employees have received offers to join Amazon, an Amazon spokesperson told TechCrunch. The startup has between two to 10 employees listed on LinkedIn. Bee's core product is an AI bracelet that acts as a second memory, recording all of the conversations it hears to create summaries, reminders, and to-do lists for users. The $50 device, which resembles a Fitbit smartwatch, requires an additional $19 monthly subscription. Bee raised $7 million last year to develop the gadget, which can understand 40 languages and has a 7-day battery life. It is currently backordered due to high demand. Related: Samsung Is Looking into Making AI Necklaces, Earrings, and Other Wearables: 'All Kinds of Possibilities' Bee CEO Maria de Lourdes Zollo wrote in a LinkedIn post on Tuesday that she "couldn't be more excited" about the acquisition. "What began as a dream with an incredible team and community now finds a new home at Amazon," Zollo wrote. The acquisition is a sign of Amazon's intent to create AI wearables, a different path from the company's Alexa-enabled Echo speakers and home assistant products. Amazon has tried to enter the wearable device market before, with limited success. In 2020, Amazon began selling a health-tracking bracelet called Halo, which tracked activity, sleep, and body fat. By 2023, Amazon shut down the Halo device as part of a broader cost-cutting measure. Other companies are also looking into AI wearables, including ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, which acquired the startup io for $6.5 billion in May to further its work on consumer devices embedded with AI. Samsung is also considering developing AI devices that users can wear, like AI necklaces and earrings, the company indicated earlier this month. Meanwhile, Apple and Google are working on smart glasses to compete with Meta, which released a new version of its bestselling smart glasses in collaboration with Oakley last month. Related: Amazon Is Ending an Important Privacy Feature for Alexa Echo Devices By the End of the Month Bee's wearable poses security, privacy, and legal concerns, given that it records everything around it. Eleven U.S. states, including Massachusetts, Florida, and California, require the consent of everyone involved in a conversation before the interaction can be recorded. Bee's current privacy policies state that the company does not save, store, or use audio recordings for AI training, but it does store what the AI learns about the user. The startup has stated that it only plans to record the voices of people who have consented verbally to the recording, per TechCrunch. Bee is also working on a feature to automatically stop recording audio based on boundaries like topic and location that the user defines, per the outlet. Amazon has previously come under scrutiny for the way it handles user data. In 2022, Amazon provided videos from Ring personal security cameras to law enforcement without a warrant or user consent. In 2023, the Federal Trade Commission ordered Ring to pay $5.8 million in a settlement over claims that Ring employees could view footage from customer cameras for years.

Amazon Buys Into AI Wearables: Meet Bee, The Company That Listens And Records Your Conversations - Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Ecommerce giant Amazon.com Inc. AMZN is buying an AI-related wearable company in its latest push for growth in the artificial intelligence sector. What Happened: Amazon is among the companies that are cutting or changing jobs due to the growth of artificial intelligence efficiency in the workplace. The company's newest AI bet isn't on eliminating jobs, but rather on growing the wearables sector through AI. Amazon is buying AI startup Bee, as reported by The Verge. Bee CEO Maria de Lourdes Zollos announced the acquisition in a LinkedIn post. According to the Bee CEO, Amazon's goal is to "bring truly personal, agentic AI to even more customers." Bee currently offers a device similar to a Fitbit that costs $50 and listens to and records conversations you and others around you make. The device then transcribes the conversations and provides daily summaries. Users can also give Bee permissions to access emails, contact, location, reminder, photos and calendars to provide more recommendations and help with tasks. Along with the wearable device, Bee charges $19 per month for its subscription service. The company also has an Apple Watch app, as reported by TechCrunch. Read Also: Amazon Q1 Earnings: Double Beat, Q2 Guidance, CEO Focuses On Making 'Customers' Lives Easier And Better' Why It's Important: The recording of conversations has raised privacy concerns among users and could become a key topic in Amazon's acquisition. Bee does not currently keep all the recordings daily. "We've been strong stewards of customer data since our founding, and have never been in the business of selling our customers' personal information to others," Amazon spokesperson Alexandra Miller said. Miller said Amazon "cares deeply" about the privacy of its customers and will work with Bee to provide users with greater control over their devices after the acquisition closes. "We design our products to protect our customers' privacy and security and to make it easy for them to be in control of their experience - and this approach would of course apply to Bee." With a $50 price point plus a monthly fee, Bee could be a good test for whether consumers are ready for AI wearables. Other companies like Humane and Rabbit have had limited success in the sector, but that came with much higher price points, including $499 for the Humane AI Pin. TechCrunch notes that OpenAI, Meta Platforms and Apple are rumored to be or are currently working on AI devices that could be similar in nature. Read Next: Amazon Hits 1 Million Robots, Should Human Workers Be Worried?: Company Says 'Creating New Career Opportunities' Photo: Shutterstock AMZNAmazon.com Inc$227.750.12%Stock Score Locked: Want to See it? Benzinga Rankings give you vital metrics on any stock - anytime. Reveal Full ScoreEdge RankingsMomentum66.66Growth97.19Quality67.87Value49.80Price TrendShortMediumLongOverviewMarket News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Meet Bee: The $49 AI Wearable Amazon Just Bought That Hears Everything You Say - Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Amazon AMZN has agreed to acquire Bee, a San Francisco startup behind a $49.99 AI wristband that listens to conversations, transcribes speech, and generates personalized reminders, summaries, and to-do lists, according to media reports. Bee CEO Maria de Lourdes Zollo announced on LinkedIn that the acquisition will help "bring truly personal, agentic AI to even more customers." Amazon confirmed the pending purchase to Benzinga while noting the deal is yet closed. Financial terms were not disclosed, though the startup raised $7 million in 2024. Bee's website lists Exor and Greycroft among its investors. Don't Miss: * 7,000+ investors have joined Timeplast's mission to eliminate microplastics -- now it's your turn to invest in the future of sustainable plastic before time runs out. * $100k+ in investable assets? Match with a fiduciary advisor for free to learn how you can maximize your retirement and save on taxes - no cost, no obligation. Trending Investment Opportunities Advertisement A $50 Wearable That Listens, Learns and Remembers Your Day Bee's flagship product, the Pioneer wristband, resembles a Fitbit-like device and uses dual microphones with AI to capture conversations and convert speech to text in real time, according to Bee's website. TechCrunch says that consumers can subscribe for $19 per month, enabling access to AI-powered daily summaries, reminders, and actionable insights generated through the Bee app. According to The Verge, users may also grant the device access to emails, contacts, photos, calendar entries, and location data to enrich AI analysis and support searchable life logs. Recognizing privacy sensitivity, TechCrunch says that Bee emphasizes user control and data deletion at any time, and is developing features to restrict recording by location or topic. Trending: Warren Buffett once said, "If you don't find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die." Here's how you can earn passive income with just $10. Privacy vs. Convenience: The AI Wristband Dilemma TechCrunch reports that products like Bee pose significant security and privacy risks because they record everything around them, and different companies vary in how voice recordings are processed, stored, and used for AI training. Amazon spokesperson Alexandra Miller told The Verge that the company "cares deeply" about customer privacy and security when asked about whether Bee's current privacy measures would remain in place after the deal closes. Miller added that Amazon will work with Bee to give users "even greater control over" their devices and emphasized that Amazon has "never been in the business of selling our customers' personal information to others," The Verge says. According to Bee's privacy policies, users can delete their data at any time, and audio recordings are not saved, stored, or used for AI training, though the app retains data the AI learns about each user to function as a personal assistant. See Also: Accredited Investors: Grab Pre-IPO Shares of the AI Company Powering Hasbro, Sephora & MGM -- Just $0.63 Before NASDAQ Launch Bee has also indicated that it plans to only record the voices of people who verbally consent and is developing features to let users set boundaries based on topic or location that automatically pause the device's learning, TechCrunch reports. The company noted plans to expand on‑device AI processing, which may pose fewer privacy risks than cloud‑based processing. Early testers, including reviewers from The Verge, observed that Bee sometimes misinterprets background media such as TV shows or music as human conversation, which can distort the summaries and insights it generates. Why This Acquisition Marks Amazon's AI Reinvention The Bee deal follows Amazon's earlier exit from the Halo fitness tracker market in 2023 and places it among other tech companies advancing AI wearables. According to Reuters, the move aligns Amazon alongside technology peers such as OpenAI, which acquired Jony Ive's AI‑design firm, Meta META, with Ray‑Ban smart glasses, and Apple AAPL, rumored to be preparing its own AI eyewear. TechCrunch says Bee's staff have already received offers to join Amazon, signaling near-term integration of the startup's technology and team. Image: Shutterstock AAPLApple Inc $214.500.29% Stock Score Locked: Edge Members Only Benzinga Rankings give you vital metrics on any stock - anytime. Unlock Rankings Edge Rankings Momentum 36.74 Growth 32.72 Quality 79.36 Value 9.35 Price Trend Short Medium Long Overview AMZNAmazon.com Inc $233.090.71% METAMeta Platforms Inc $716.780.58% Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Amazon to Acquire AI-Powered Bracelet Maker Bee | PYMNTS.com

In her post, Zollo said that by joining Amazon, Bee will be able to bring this "personal, agentic AI" to more customers. "When we started Bee, we imagined a world where AI is truly personal, where your life is understood and enhanced by technology that learns with you," Zollo said in the post. "What began as a dream with an incredible team and community now finds a new home at Amazon." According to the WSJ report, the Bee wearable device is always listening and keeps a transcription, not audio. The Amazon spokeswoman said in the report that the controls Amazon offers on other products will also apply to Bee. The spokeswoman did not comment on Amazon's motivations for acquiring Bee, per the report. The report said that data can be used to train AI models and make them more helpful to users, that Amazon recently enhanced its voice assistant with generative AI to create the beta release of Alexa+, and that other companies are developing AI wearable devices as well. It highlighted Google's Pixel earbuds, Meta's Ray-Ban glasses, Samsung's Galaxy devices and former Apple design chief Jony Ive's work to develop a new device for OpenAI. Amazon entered the wearables market in August 2020 with wristband device called Halo that incorporated AI and tracked various health and performance indicators. The company said in April 2023 that it would stop supporting the Halo devices in July 2023 in a move to refocus its business. Experts believe AI wearables could dramatically alter the retail landscape because they offer merchants a potential goldmine of real-time consumer data, enabling hyper-targeted marketing and product development, PYMNTS reported in August. AI is driving a boom in smart glasses, PYMNTS reported in February. The latest generation of these devices are encased in traditional frames of various styles that don't look out of place in public and carry serious electronics to power AI capabilities like online searches and translations.

Amazon to buy startup focused on AI wearables

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -Amazon has reached a deal to buy San Francisco-based Bee, a startup making an artificial intelligence-enabled bracelet to listen in on and transcribe conversations. Bee's $50 wristband can analyze and distill what it records to make summaries, to-do lists or other tasks. Amazon confirmed the deal on Tuesday following a post on LinkedIn by Bee CEO and co-founder Maria de Lourdes Zollo. The deal has not yet closed and Amazon declined to provide terms. A spokesperson said Amazon will work with Bee to give users more control over the devices, which are set to automatically transcribe audio but can be muted. "We imagined a world where AI is truly personal, where your life is understood and enhanced by technology that learns with you," said Zollo in her post. She did not immediately respond to a query on Tuesday. It was not Amazon's first foray into wearables. The Seattle online retailer marketed a line of wrist health trackers called Halo but ultimately killed the project in 2023. It also has a line of smart glasses embedded with Amazon's virtual assistant, Alexa, under its Echo brand. ChatGPT parent OpenAI bought former Apple designer Jony Ive's AI device startup called io for about $6.5 billion. Other startups have made early attempts at AI wearables, with mixed results. In her post, Zollo thanked Amazon devices executive Panos Panay, suggesting Bee would join his group when the deal closes. Much of Amazon's AI development is being conducted in its Amazon Web Services unit. Bee was founded in 2022. (Reporting by Greg Bensinger in San Francisco; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

Amazon to acquire Bee AI wearable that hears every word you say

HIGHLIGHTS Amazon is set to acquire Bee. Bee is a startup that brings AI directly to your wrist. The acquisition signals Amazon's push into AI wearables. Amazon is acquiring Bee, a startup that brings AI directly to your wrist. Bee's co-founder, Maria de Lourdes Zollo, announced the news on LinkedIn, saying the team is joining Amazon to help "bring truly personal, agentic AI to even more customers." Amazon confirmed the deal to TechCrunch, although it's not officially closed yet. Bee offers a lightweight bracelet for $49.99, along with a $19 monthly subscription, and an Apple Watch app. The device constantly listens to everything (unless muted) and uses AI to turn spoken conversations into helpful reminders and to-do lists. The idea is to act like a personal assistant that's always paying attention. Also read: OpenAI partners with Oracle to expand Stargate AI data centers to 5 GW In an interview with TechCrunch last year, Zollo explained that Bee's long-term vision was to build a "cloud phone" or a kind of digital mirror of your smartphone. Bee describes its mission on its website as creating "a personal, ambient intelligence that feels less like a tool and more like a trusted companion." While other companies, such as Humane AI, have launched AI wearables, they've struggled to gain traction, partly due to high prices. Bee's lower price point could make it more appealing to everyday users who are curious about AI but don't want to spend a fortune. This deal shows Amazon's growing interest in wearable AI tech, expanding beyond its voice-controlled devices like Echo speakers. The move also puts Amazon in line with other major tech players like OpenAI and Apple, who are all exploring ways to bring AI into personal hardware. Also read: YouTube removes nearly 11,000 propaganda channels linked to China and Russia However, devices like Bee raise privacy concerns. Bee claims users can delete their data at any time and that it doesn't save or use audio recordings for AI training. It's unclear whether these practices will continue under Amazon, a company that has previously faced criticism over data handling.