In early tests with his review unit Beewe found the device itself easy to use. It’s just a click of a button to turn recording on or off. In the app, you can set whether a double-tap bookmarks a section of the conversation, edits the current conversation, or both, and you can set whether a long-press gesture lets you leave a voice memo or chat with the AI assistant. (The companion Bee app currently reminds you to turn on voice memos, so we did.)
Like many other AI products and services, such as Plaud, Granola, Fathom, Fireflies, Otterand more, Bee can listen, record and transcribe audio conversations. Where it differs is that instead of offering an overview or raw transcript, it breaks down the audio into sections and summarizes each part. For example, an interview can be divided into sections such as the introduction, the nitty-gritty of the product, an overview of industry trends, and anything else you might have talked about.
Each section is colored with a different background color for easier differentiation as you scroll. You can click on an individual section to see the exact transcript.
It wasn’t immediately obvious how to tag speakers in the app – we learned we could tap on a part of the conversation to confirm if we were the speaker, but this was no different than other professional AI transcribers where each speaker could be tagged. Additionally, Bee discards audio after transcription, making it a non-starter for use cases where you need to reproduce the audio to ensure accuracy.
That said, the Bee isn’t necessarily meant to be a work tool. Amazon sees this as an artificial intelligence that can live alongside you as you go about your day. By integrating with Google services, Bee can associate a recorded conversation with a task. For example, after meeting someone at a conference, they could suggest you friend them on LinkedIn or research their product.
You can also leave yourself voice memos, as an alternative to writing something in your notes app, for example.
Another section in the Bee app lets you look back on memories from days past, while a “Grows” section will offer insights as it learns more about you. You can also confirm and add to a “facts” section about yourself, which is somewhat equivalent to other AI chatbots’ ability to remember things you’ve discussed.
Amazon says it will ship more features for Bee next year.
Bee is not it always listens by default, which is why competing wearables like it the Friend AI locket saw the reaction. Rather, it’s meant to ask if you can record someone’s conversation (unless at some public event, where recording is already expected).
When you’re recording, a green light turns on, alerting others that the device is in use.
The Bee’s sports complex was a bit weak. The band fell off twice while wearing it, both times while just sitting and not moving the arms much (like in a taxi). We haven’t tried the clip pin yet, but it is more durable.
Overall, the design of the mobile app is way ahead of the apps Amazon has built in-house, like the Alexa mobile experience, and it’s easy to use. But the assumption that we need an AI specifically to record conversations to learn more about us is still largely untested. Is there a world where such devices make sense for non-recording consumers in business environments like meetings and interviews?
Additionally, if AI hearing devices become mainstream, there will also need to be some sort of cultural shift regarding what is appropriate and what is not. Nowadays, recording videos of everyday people going about their lives is somewhat frowned upon, even though it’s technically legal when it’s public. Likewise, it can be considered tasteless or gauche to record audio with an AI device if you don’t ask permission first.
Not everyone will abide by this social contract, of course, which could see people self-censor their speech in public.
At CES, for example, we were talking to a representative at the Soundcore booth. When they liked something I said about a competitor’s product, they would joke, “Say it louder into my microphone,” pointing to the already recorded AI device discreetly pinned to their shirt. It was a strange experience to realize that what is said in the real world could one day be “on the record,” whether you consented or not.
Bee’s traction — or lack thereof — will help Amazon determine if this is a world consumers really want.
