Amazon’s Acquisition of AI Wearables Company Bee Creates a Buzz About Privacy Concerns

Amazon has quietly acquired wearable AI startup Bee, signaling a fresh push into personalized, voice-enabled technology amid growing scrutiny over data privacy. The deal marks Amazon’s reentry into the wearable AI market, following its decision in 2023 to discontinue Halo, a fitness-oriented device, as part of the tech giant’s broader cost-reduction efforts. Amazon’s current Echo product line includes smart glasses that integrate with Alexa, the company’s virtual assistant.

“When we started Bee, we imagined a world where AI is truly personal, where your life is understood and enhanced by technology that learns with you,” Bee co-founder Maria de Lourdes Zollo wrote in a LinkedIn post. “What began as a dream with an incredible team and community now finds a new home at Amazon.”

Bee employees have reportedly received offers to work at Amazon. However, the company has not disclosed how many team members are expected to make the transition.

Bee pricing and key features

Founded in 2022, the San Francisco-based startup sells an AI-powered wristband that resembles a smartwatch. The device is priced at $49.99 and requires a $19 monthly subscription. The wearable features embedded microphones and AI capable of listening to conversations and generating summaries, reminders, and lists based on what it hears.  

Privacy concerns with products that record everything

Wearables like Bee, which passively monitor speech, raise concerns about data security and surveillance. As noted both by CNBC and TechCrunch, technology firms vary in how they manage and store voice data, particularly regarding whether recordings are retained for AI training.  

Bee’s published privacy policies state that users may delete their data at any time, and that audio recordings are not stored, saved, or used to train its AI systems. However, since the app functions as a personal assistant, it processes and retains certain user inputs to provide contextual support.

Previously, Bee indicated that only people who have consented will have their voices recorded, according to TechCrunch. The company has reportedly been working on a feature that would let users set parameters to give them more control over the device’s recording behavior.

Plans were also under way to shift AI processing from the cloud to the device itself, which would reduce potential privacy risks by limiting the transfer of sensitive data online. Whether these privacy-focused developments will proceed under Amazon’s ownership remains uncertain. 

Explore how Amazon’s latest AI-driven workforce strategy is reshaping jobs across the tech industry. Read our full coverage on Amazon’s AI-related job cuts and what’s next for human workers.
The post Amazon’s Acquisition of AI Wearables Company Bee Creates a Buzz About Privacy Concerns appeared first on eWEEK.