Amazon to buy AI company Bee that makes wearable listening device

Amazon plans to get wearables startup Bee AI, the institution confirmed, successful the latest illustration of tech giants doubling down connected generative artificial intelligence.

Bee, based successful San Francisco, makes a $49.99 wristband that appears akin to a Fitbit smartwatch. The device is equipped with AI and microphones that tin perceive to and analyse conversations to supply summaries, to-do lists and reminders for mundane tasks.

Bee CEO Maria de Lourdes Zollo announced in a LinkedIn post connected Tuesday that the institution volition articulation Amazon.

"When we started Bee, we imagined a satellite wherever AI is genuinely personal, wherever your beingness is understood and enhanced by exertion that learns with you," Zollo wrote. "What began arsenic a imagination with an unthinkable squad and assemblage present finds a caller location astatine Amazon."

Amazon spokesperson Alexandra Miller confirmed the company's plans to get Bee. The institution declined to remark connected the presumption of the deal.

Amazon has introduced a flurry of AI products, including its ain acceptable of Nova models, Trainium chips, a buying chatbot and a marketplace for third-party models called Bedrock.

The institution has besides overhauled its Alexa dependable assistant, released much than a decennary ago, with AI capabilities arsenic Amazon looks to spot distant astatine the occurrence of rivals specified arsenic OpenAI's ChatGPT, Anthropic's Claude and Google's Gemini.

Ring, the astute location information institution owned by Amazon, has besides looked to present generative AI successful immoderate of its products.

Amazon antecedently experimented successful the wearables abstraction done a wellness and fitness-focused merchandise called Halo. It sunset the Halo successful 2023 arsenic portion of a broader cost-cutting review.

Other tech companies person launched AI-infused user hardware with mixed success.

There's the Rabbit R1, a tiny quadrate gadget that costs $199 and uses an OpenAI exemplary to reply questions, arsenic good arsenic the AI pin developed by Humane, which aboriginal sold to HP.

Meta's Ray-Ban astute glasses person grown successful popularity since the archetypal mentation was released successful 2021.

OpenAI successful May acquired Jony Ive's AI devices startup io for astir $6.4 billion. The institution reportedly plans to make a screen-free device.