Amazon acquires AI wearables start-up Bee

Amazon is set to acquire Bee, a San Francisco-based start-up that has developed an artificial intelligence-enabled bracelet capable of transcribing conversations, which it can then analyse and distil into summaries, to-do lists, or other tasks. Terms of the deal, which is still to close, have not been disclosed. Amazon spokesperson Alexandra Miller said that Bee is working to give customers more control over the device, which has a mute button but by default works as an ongoing AI transcriber of its user’s interactions. “We design our products to protect our customers’ privacy and security and to make it easy for them to be in control of their experience – and this approach would of course apply to Bee”, she explained.