Amazon is betting that personal artificial intelligence should listen in - with permission. At TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco on Thursday, the company unveiled two devices under Bee, the startup it acquired last year.
The Frontier is a $75 bracelet, while the Eclipse is a $100 unit that attaches to a smartphone. Both are designed to gather information from a user's day - conversations, calendars and apps - and turn it into reminders, to-dos and other AI-generated insights, Reuters reported.
Amazon devices chief Panos Panay presented the pitch as staying more present: because the device keeps track when switched on, users do not have to stop to write themselves reminders.
The privacy terms will decide how far the idea travels. Amazon says users control when the devices are on, can delete insights and earlier conversations, and that it does not store audio. Bee retains data for 14 days by default, with longer retention tied to a paid subscription, and the devices can connect to Amazon's Alexa+ service.
