Amazon Showcases Bee AI Wearable at CES as It Expands Beyond Alexa

Bright rings, bright screens, smart TVs, smart pins — and even innovative ice cube makers — were on display at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where artificial intelligence featured prominently across nearly every product category. For Amazon, CES was an opportunity to highlight its latest AI-focused acquisition: Bee, a wearable that can be used as either a clip-on pin or a bracelet.

Amazon already has a significant presence in consumer AI devices through Alexa, whose upgraded AI-powered version, Alexa+, is compatible with the vast majority of Amazon’s existing hardware. With Bee, however, Amazon is extending its AI ambitions beyond the home, gaining a wearable device designed to accompany users throughout their day.

Bee is primarily designed to record conversations, such as interviews, meetings, or classes, but it also serves as an AI companion. The device draws on general world knowledge and learns more about users through a combination of recorded conversations and access to approved services, including Gmail, Google Calendar, phone contacts, and Apple Health.

Amazon has previously experimented with embedding Alexa in wearables, including earbuds and smart glasses. Still, these efforts have struggled to gain traction against competitors like Apple’s AirPods and Ray-Ban Meta AI glasses. Rather than replacing those attempts, Amazon appears to be positioning Bee as a complementary addition to its AI ecosystem.

“We see each other as complementary friends,” said Maria de Lourdes Zollo, co-founder of Bee, describing Bee’s relationship with Alexa during an interview at CES. “Bee has the understanding of outside the house, and Alexa has the understanding of inside the house. Of course, there will be a future where these two things come together.”

That future does not mean Bee will be immediately folded into Alexa. Daniel Rausch, vice president of Amazon Alexa, said the company views Bee as an “important and lovable experience.” He described Bee as a “deeply engaging and personal” AI, while acknowledging that the two assistants could eventually converge.

“We know that it will create even more benefit for customers than what these AI experiences do on their own,” Rausch said. “When you have access to the power of these AI experiences with you throughout the day, and they’re continuous, we’re going to be able to do much more for customers.”

De Lourdes Zollo explained that Bee learns from users over time, developing an understanding of their habits, commitments, and patterns. This allows the device to suggest follow-ups, reminders, and to-do items throughout the day.

Early use cases include students recording lectures, older users who struggle with memory, and professionals who speak frequently and prefer not to take manual notes.

“They just want a place to have all the summarization of everything they said,” de Lourdes Zollo said. “From that, we build a really big graph of knowledge about you, where you can chat with Bee and understand what happened to you — and how you’re changing over the course of your life.”

Like Alexa, Bee relies on a combination of AI models behind the scenes and is exploring the use of Amazon’s own AI models as part of that mix. After conversations are transcribed, Bee discards the original audio, which limits its usefulness in some professional scenarios where playback is required for accuracy.

Looking ahead, de Lourdes Zollo hinted that much more is planned for Bee in 2026. In addition to recently announced features such as voice notes, templates, and daily insights, the eight-person Bee team is working on new capabilities from its San Francisco headquarters, where Amazon already employs large hardware and Alexa teams.

“Honestly, it’s endless possibilities now,” she said. “And that’s one of the reasons why we’re really excited to be part of Amazon.”