Why Amazon bought Bee, an AI wearable

Amazon acquired Bee, a startup that developed an AI-powered wearable device designed primarily for recording and summarizing conversations such as interviews, meetings, and classes. Bee’s AI acts as a personal companion by learning from users’ recordings and integrating data from services like Gmail, Google Calendar, contacts, and Apple Health. Unlike Amazon’s Alexa, which focuses on in-home assistance, Bee provides contextual understanding of users’ lives outside the home. The two AIs are seen as complementary, with Amazon planning eventual integration to enhance user experience by combining continuous AI support throughout the day. Bee’s technology builds a personalized knowledge graph based on user interactions, enabling it to suggest to-do items and follow-ups. Early adopters include students, elderly users, and professionals who benefit from automated summarization rather than manual note-taking. The device transcribes conversations and discards audio recordings, which limits some work-related applications requiring playback for accuracy. Bee’s small team, now part of Amazon, is actively developing new features such as voice notes