Smart ring, smart screen, smart TV, smart pin, smart… ice maker? Of course, why not! AI was everywhere at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, where companies large and small showed how to bring AI to other devices. For Amazon, CES is a time to show Newest acquisition on the board: Beean AI device that can be worn as a clip-on pin or bracelet.
Amazon already has an entry in the AI consumer device space with Alexa, whose enhanced AI-powered version, Alexa+, can run on 97% of Amazon’s hardware devices have shipped. However, with Beecompanies gain access to wearables that can extend their reach outside the home.
Generally designed to record conversations like interviews, meetings, or classes, Bee can also be an AI companion. AI has access to the world’s knowledge, and learns more about you from a combination of records and services you allow access to like Gmail, Google Calendar, phone contacts, and Apple Health.
Because Amazon has been trying to integrate Alexa into wearable devices like earbuds and glassesit might look like a company muddying the waters with the addition of another AI friend. However, Alexa’s previous devices haven’t taken off in the face of competition like Apple’s AirPods and Ray Ban’s AI Meta glasses. Amazon seems to understand this, which is why it added Bee to its lineup.
“We see each other as complementary friends,” said Bee co-founder Maria de Lourdes Zollo of Bee’s relationship with Alexa, in an interview at CES last week. “Bee has an understanding outside the home, and Alexa has an understanding inside the home. There will definitely be a future where these two things can work together.”
That future does not mean AI Bee will be replaced by Alexa. Amazon’s Alexa VP Daniel Rausch noted that Amazon thinks what the team has created at Bee is “an important and beloved experience.” He describes Bee as a “deeply engaged and personal” AI, but he also agrees that, at some point, Alexa and Bee will come together.
“We know that it will create more benefits for our customers than what (the AI experience) does on its own,” Rausch said. “When you have access to the power of this AI experience with you all day, and constantly – we’ll be able to do more for our customers.”
De Lourdes Zollo says that Bee learns from users, gaining an understanding of patterns, insights, and commitments, which can help suggest things to do and follow-up throughout your day.
Early use cases include students recording lectures, parents who have trouble remembering, and people who talk for a living and don’t want to manually take notes.
“They just wanted a place to have all the summaries of everything they were talking about,” the Bee founder said. “Being based, we build a very large graph of knowledge (about) you, where you can talk to Bee, and have an understanding of what happened to you, but also how you change throughout your life,” added de Lourdes Zollo.
Like Alexa, Bee uses a combination of AI models under the hood, but is exploring adding Amazon’s AI as part of the mix. After transcribing the conversation, Bee discards the audio, making it impractical for many work-related use cases that must be replayed to ensure accuracy.
There is still a lot ahead for the Bee in 2026, de Lourdes Zollo teases, without giving anything away. In addition to recent announcements from new features and functions – like voice notes, templates, daily insights, etc. – the founder said that the eight-person team is working on “a lot of new things” from HQ in San Francisco, where Amazon already has many hardware and Alexa employees.
“Honestly, the possibilities are endless right now, and that’s one of the reasons why we’re so excited to be a part of Amazon,” he said.