Amazon Buying AI Wearables Startup Bee
Amazon.com has announced plans to further invest in artificial intelligence with the purchase of a company called Bee that sells a Fitbit-like wristband equipped with AI and microphones, Bee's CEO and co-founder announced on social media Tuesday.
Based in San Francisco, Bee advertises its wristband as "wearable AI that understands you." Retailing for $49.99 (plus a $19 monthly subscription), the modular design wristband includes advanced noise filtering, seven days of battery life, and comprehension in 40 languages. The user presses and holds a button on the wristband to talk, asking it to summarize conversations, remember tasks, recap their day, set reminders, and more. The product records everything it hears unless a user manually mutes it. According to Bee's website, the wristband is currently on back order "due to incredibly high demand."
The terms of the sale to Amazon were not disclosed. Bee raised $7 million in funding last year, according to TechCrunch.
Total Retail's Take: Amazon has significantly increased its investment in AI over the last few years, with a notable focus on generative AI and AI infrastructure. It completed a $4 billion investment into Anthropic — which owns the large language model (LLM) Claude — last year and announced in November it would put an additional $4 billion into the company.
Aside from a wearable medical device called Halo that Amazon launched in 2020 and sunset in 2023, this is Amazon's first foray into AI wearable devices.
Other tech companies that have experimented with making wearable AI available to the broader public include Meta and its Ray-Ban smart glasses as well as the Oura Ring, which tracks health metrics. With continued advancements in LLMs, AI algorithms, and sensor technology — and a dominant, well-funded retailer like Amazon backing up these advancements — such wearables could go mainstream sooner rather than later.
