Amazon Buys Into AI Wearables: Meet Bee, The Company That Listens And Records Your Conversations

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. Amazon Hits 1 Million Robots, Should Human Workers Be Worried?: Company Says ‘Creating New Career Opportunities’ Photo: Shutterstock