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.
Amazon Buys Bee AI
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.
