Amazon is turning Bee's wearable into a proactive 'second brain', not just an always-listening notepad

It was only a few months ago that Amazon announced the purchase of AI hardware startup Bee, and already, we hear it's going to upgrade the $50 (£37 / AU$75) always-listening wearable with some even, err, creepier abilities.

If you’ve not come across it before, Bee is a tiny device you can wear on your wrist or clip to your shirt. There’s no display or camera – it just sits there, with a week's worth of battery to power it and records what’s happening around you - turning your day into summaries, conversation recaps and auto-generated to-do lists in a companion app.

Bee is essentially an “ambient AI” that fades into the background and tries to run a life log that doesn’t require manual taps or swipes to start recordings or write notes.

More proactive, not just reflective

The interesting part, though, is how Bee is evolving now that it’s under Amazon’s wing.

Since joining the retail behemoth in September as an eight-person team, Bee has added voice notes (where you hit a button to capture an idea) and “daily insights” that highlight trends in your mood and even how your relationships are shifting.

Now, however, Bee’s co-founder Maria de Lourdes Zollo says the company is working to make the wearable more proactive, not just reflective.

According to an interview with Zollo in Bloomberg, there are newer “actions” features coming that will link Bee to calendars and email accounts so it can actively conduct follow-ups for you, like drafting emails or creating meeting invites based on what was said in a conversation.

Zollo basically says you'll be able to connect Gmail and your calendar, and Bee will take proactive actions on your behalf, straight from the app.

It’s also worth zooming out a bit, because this fits a much bigger trend we’ve been talking about. As Active Editor, Matt Kollat, wrote recently, CES 2026 was full of AI-powered wearables trying to become “second brains” that listen, summarise and remember everything.

Bee sits in that same lane as devices like Looki’s L1, which also promise memory capture and automatic follow-ups, only Bee’s whole thing is doing it without a camera.

Of course, you can’t talk about an always-on microphone without asking the obvious question - where does all that audio go?

Eyebrows well and truly raised

Bee says it has “never stored audio recordings”, and that everything is processed in real time, deleted after processing, and never saved. That’s broadly the same line the company shared when the acquisition first surfaced. Regardless, Amazon's buying an always-listening wearable was always going to raise eyebrows.

Amazon also has a slightly mixed history here. It killed the Halo health tracker in 2023, and it hasn’t exactly been flooding the zone with new wearables since. Other devices in this category have also seen some very public faceplants. Take Humane AI Pin or the Rabbit R1, which promised futuristic features but didn't deliver on the hype.

Still, Daniel Rausch, Amazon’s VP of Alexa and Echo, sounds all-in on Bee, calling it “certainly an Amazon device and service” at this point, and teasing a makeover with a very Amazon-esque “stay tuned”.

And while Bee says it’s strict on privacy - even without a camera - it’s hard not to wonder what'll happen when an Amazon-owned device is quietly journaling your life all day.

Let's just say this: I won't be shocked if “ambient AI” eventually delivers some very convenient, very specific Amazon recommendations.