SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) -Amazon ( AMZN ) has reached a deal to buy San Francisco-based Bee, a startup making an artificial intelligence-enabled bracelet to listen in on and transcribe conversations.
Bee's $50 wristband can analyze and distill what it records to make summaries, to-do lists or other tasks. Amazon ( AMZN ) confirmed the deal on Tuesday following a post on LinkedIn by Bee CEO and co-founder Maria de Lourdes Zollo.
The deal has not yet closed and Amazon ( AMZN ) declined to provide terms. A spokesperson said Amazon ( AMZN ) will work with Bee to give users more control over the devices, which are set to automatically transcribe audio but can be muted.
"We imagined a world where AI is truly personal, where your life is understood and enhanced by technology that learns with you," said Zollo in her post. She did not immediately respond to a query on Tuesday.
It was not Amazon's ( AMZN ) first foray into wearables. The Seattle online retailer marketed a line of wrist health trackers called Halo but ultimately killed the project in 2023. It also has a line of smart glasses embedded with Amazon's ( AMZN ) virtual assistant, Alexa, under its Echo brand.
ChatGPT parent OpenAI bought former Apple designer Jony Ive's AI device startup called io for about $6.5 billion. Other startups have made early attempts at AI wearables, with mixed results.
In her post, Zollo thanked Amazon ( AMZN ) devices executive Panos Panay, suggesting Bee would join his group when the deal closes. Much of Amazon's ( AMZN ) AI development is being conducted in its Amazon Web Services unit.
Bee was founded in 2022.