Can Amazon Finally Make Ai Wearables Happen? This Buzzy New Device Could Be Its Best Bet

Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNET

If you person ever utilized an AI transcription work for meetings, calls, lectures, aliases more, you cognize really bully nan exertion is astatine capturing each item of a speech and converting it into text. Now, ideate a world wherever you could entree an AI-generated transcription of each real-world relationship you have. Enter nan Bee AI wearable. 

On Wednesday, Bee CEO Maria de Lourdes announced via LinkedIn that Bee is joining Amazon. The conception down Bee is simple: a $49 wristband equipped pinch mics and AI that is worn astatine each times to perceive successful connected your mundane interactions, transcribe them, and supply further insights for illustration conversational search, action recommendations, and more. 

Also: Meta Ray-Bans vs. Oakley: I tested some smart glasses, there's a clear winner

The specifications of nan woody were not disclosed. However, Amazon's liking successful making nan purchase, paired pinch nan merchandise and fame of different AI hardware products specified arsenic nan Meta Oakley AI smartglasses, makes 1 point clear -- AI-first hardware is astir to person a large moment. 

The Bee Wearable 

The Bee AI-wearable is meant to beryllium an AI companion that is passively pinch you astatine each times during nan day. While astatine first, nan merchandise whitethorn sound invasive and superfluous, astatine CES 2025, I wore and demoed nan wristband, and nan real-world applications of nan merchandise became evident. 

Using audio, nan wristband captures conversations each time unless manually paused pinch nan fastener connected it. It past gets to cognize you and provides AI summaries of your conversations, transcripts -- which you tin parse utilizing a chatbot interface -- and actionable insights. The artillery is expected to past 7 days, enabling users to really usage it arsenic a companion without having to interest astir recharging astatine different times during nan day. 

The usage cases are endless. An evident example: being successful a gathering and wanting to reference nan notes later. Less so: things you wouldn't typically beryllium capable to mention backmost to, specified arsenic revisiting a erstwhile speech you had pinch a roommate successful which they mentioned what they wanted you to get from nan store, what sanction nan personification you conscionable met was, aliases moreover erstwhile your friend said their day was. You tin moreover get feedback connected really you handled a situation, asking thing for illustration "How could I person reacted amended successful that situation?" 

Naturally, group whitethorn person concerns astir having a wearable perceive to them astatine each infinitesimal during nan day. When I said to co-founder Ethan Sutin astatine CES, he reassured maine that nary humans tin spot nan conversations, and nan information will not beryllium sold aliases utilized for training. 

There are nary specifications connected what Amazon plans to do pinch nan band, and it is very imaginable nan last merchandise will look a batch different and much successful statement pinch nan suite of existing Amazon AI products, including an integration into nan Alexa ecosystem. Amazon is profoundly progressive successful nan AI abstraction pinch its Nova instauration models, which could beryllium integrated into nan merchandise to make it better.

A increasing market 

As generative AI becomes much ubiquitous, nan exertion has go progressively embedded into products. Nearly each caller phone, headphone, smartwatch, and wearable now has a generative AI characteristic aliases acquisition aimed astatine optimizing users' interactions pinch their devices. However, to bring AI assistance to nan adjacent level, you request a instrumentality that captures arsenic overmuch accusation arsenic imaginable successful existent time, giving measurement to a caller benignant of product. 

This type of merchandise has been attempted before, specified arsenic nan Rabbit R1 aliases nan Humane AI pin. However, 1 of nan biggest problems pinch those launches -- beyond capacity -- is that they required group to transportation an other instrumentality they typically wouldn't want to. As a result, we are seeing companies trying their manus astatine caller shape factors that tin connection users easy AI entree and experiences pinch subtly. 

Also: The 8 Pixel Watch 4 rumors I'm astir funny astir (and what they could mean for nan smartwatch)

OpenAI has a hardware AI merchandise successful nan works, seen by its acquisition of nan Jony Ive startup. At Google I/O 2025, Google gave much specifications astir its Android XR glasses, which battalion Gemini's assistance, in-lens displays, speakers, cameras, and mics into nan shape of accepted eyeglasses. Meta conscionable collaborated pinch luxury eyewear marque Oakley to merchandise smartglasses embedded pinch Meta AI pinch even longer artillery life, making it easier for users to ever entree an assistant. 

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, ZDNET's genitor company, revenge an April 2025 suit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights successful training and operating its AI systems.)

As companies compete to merchandise a wearable that makes AI nan astir accessible and appealing for users to adhd to their instrumentality rotation, this marketplace is bound to go much saturated successful nan adjacent future. 

You tin support up pinch my latest stories and tech adventures connected societal media. Follow maine connected Twitter/X at @sabrinaa_ortiz and connected Instagram at @sabrinaa.ortiz. 

Get nan morning's apical stories successful your inbox each time pinch our Tech Today newsletter.