Maria de Lourdes Zollo is the CEO and Co-Founding father of Bee. She beforehand labored at Twitter as a Senior Product Supervisor and creator. Maria de Lourdes Zollo attended Università degli Studi di Milano.
Bee is a private AI wearable that transforms conversations and duties into summaries, insights, and reminders. It learns and adapts, providing proactive help whereas making certain privateness with a mute perform. With superior noise filtering, help for 40 languages, and a seven-day battery life, Bee is designed for seamless, uninterrupted use. Its modular design permits versatile put on choices, and it integrates easily with iOS, offering an clever companion that enhances productiveness and retains customers current of their day by day lives.
What impressed you and Ethan to co-found Bee, and the way did your prior experiences at TikTok, Squad, and Twitter form your imaginative and prescient for this private AI wearable?
The journey to Bee started with an amusing realization – my first prototype was really centered on make-up! I used to be attempting to unravel a private frustration round making knowledgeable buying choices with out consistently having to rebuild context on Google or Amazon. This expertise led me to discover a broader query about personalised AI understanding.
When Ethan and I related, we found a captivating alignment. He had beforehand explored related ideas in 2016 with Olabot (earlier than pivoting to Squad), investigating whether or not AI might retain our reminiscences, pursuits, insights, and values. Whereas the know-how wasn’t prepared then, I noticed a possibility to revisit and reimagine this idea in a very new method.
My expertise at TikTok had deeply impressed upon me the facility of really understanding customers and delivering personalised experiences. With Ethan, we acknowledged the potential to create one thing revolutionary – AI that does not simply reply to instructions however builds real understanding via steady presence.
The timing was excellent. The know-how had lastly caught as much as allow our imaginative and prescient, and our experiences at main tech platforms had proven each the potential and limitations of present AI approaches. We based Bee as a result of we imagine AI ought to do extra than simply execute instructions – it ought to perceive your world, anticipate your wants, and develop alongside you. This imaginative and prescient of know-how as a pure extension of your life, constructing deep private understanding via steady presence, is now lastly attainable.
Bee is targeted on making AI extra human-centered and contextually conscious. Why is that this such an essential focus for you, and the way do you see this shaping the way forward for AI know-how?
Making AI extra human-centered and contextually conscious is essential as a result of we’re at a transformative second in our relationship with know-how. Proper now, we’re consistently bombarded with notifications and duties that fragment our consideration and disconnect us from what really issues in our lives. Expertise promised to boost our existence, however as a substitute, it typically pulls us away from being current within the second.
This is the reason we’re shifting away from the normal command-based AI mannequin. We imagine AI ought to work in concord with human consideration relatively than competing for it. By creating AI that builds real understanding via steady presence, Bee can quietly soak up context and deal with mundane duties whereas permitting you to remain totally engaged in your life.
When your AI really understands context, it could possibly rework each bodily and digital experiences into significant insights with out demanding your fixed consideration. It is aware of when to step in and when to remain quiet. This aware strategy represents the way forward for AI – know-how that does not simply reply to requests however really helps you be extra current by understanding the pure rhythm of your life. It is about creating know-how that respects our humanity whereas making our lives less complicated, extra related, and extra intentional.
Constructing a {hardware} product like Bee in simply 10 months is not any small feat. What had been a number of the largest challenges, and the way did you overcome them?
Constructing Bee in simply 10 months was a journey that required rethinking conventional {hardware} growth. The most important problem wasn’t simply technical, however strategic: making the best choices on the proper time. In contrast to software program the place you may rapidly iterate and reverse course, {hardware} growth is far much less forgiving. A single improper choice can value months of time and important sources.
To beat this, we took a intentionally iterative strategy. As an alternative of aiming for perfection from the beginning, we started with a easy {hardware} design that we might prototype rapidly. We constructed a powerful group of early customers right here in San Francisco who supplied invaluable suggestions. This shut relationship with our customers allowed us to study and adapt quickly. Over the course of a 12 months, we went via 4 totally different system iterations – they weren’t fairly, however every model taught us essential classes about what customers really wanted and wished.
This speedy prototyping and shut consumer suggestions loop was key to our success. Whereas the early prototypes may not have appeared lovely, they helped us keep away from the traditional {hardware} entice of spending an excessive amount of time perfecting one thing customers may not really need. By staying near our customers and sustaining a fast iteration cycle, we had been in a position to create a product that genuinely serves consumer wants relatively than simply our assumptions.
How did you strategy integrating AI with {hardware} whereas preserving it user-friendly and inexpensive?
Our strategy to integrating AI with {hardware} centered on intentional simplicity. We centered on making a clear, minimal design utilizing rigorously chosen supplies that enable us to maintain prices down whereas sustaining high quality. However the true magic of Bee is not in advanced {hardware} – it is within the software program expertise.
We have made Bee accessible via our Pioneer Version at $49.99 (common MSRP $99.99), with a $12 month-to-month subscription that unlocks superior capabilities. This pricing construction displays our perception that highly effective private AI needs to be accessible to everybody.
What makes Bee particular is how the AI learns and adapts to you over time. The {hardware} supplies the continual presence wanted for this understanding to develop, whereas the software program transforms your day by day experiences into significant insights and actions. This concentrate on software-driven worth, mixed with easy {hardware} design, permits us to ship an impactful AI expertise at an accessible worth level.
What units Bee other than different AI wearables which have struggled to achieve traction prior to now?
Our strategy stands aside as a result of we imagine the way forward for private AI is not about creating one other standalone system – it is about constructing steady understanding of your world. As an alternative of focusing totally on {hardware} capabilities, we’re taking a software-first strategy the place the system serves as your AI’s connection to your day by day life.
What makes Bee totally different is how we’re constructing it – quick iteration immediately with our group, studying and adapting primarily based on actual consumer experiences. The Bee system itself is deliberately easy, serving as your AI’s ears, whereas our software program creates a seamless connection between your digital and private life. Our seven-day battery life permits this steady presence, reworking each on-line interactions and real-world conversations into significant insights.
We see private AI as a bridge between your digital footprint and bodily world, not simply one other gadget.
The modular design of Bee is intriguing. What impressed this flexibility, and the way do you see customers benefiting from it?
The modular design displays our understanding that private know-how ought to adapt to every consumer’s distinctive way of life. Our strategy is straightforward – present a core system whereas letting customers customise how they put on and use Bee via totally different equipment primarily based on their particular person wants.
What’s fascinating is how our group has embraced this flexibility. We’re really seeing customers request much more equipment and methods to adapt Bee to their day by day lives.
Privateness is a significant concern with gadgets that constantly pay attention and course of information. How does Bee deal with these considerations whereas sustaining its performance?
Privateness is prime to how we have designed Bee from the bottom up. We comply with a easy precept: your private moments keep private. All conversations are processed in real-time and instantly deleted – we by no means retailer audio recordings. Customers have full management over their information, with the power to delete something at any time.
We preserve the very best safety requirements as a result of we imagine belief is crucial for private AI. We by no means use your information for AI coaching, by no means promote it, and by no means share it with third events.
Bee combines AI and wearables in a novel method. Are you able to share insights into the event course of and the way you balanced innovation with practicality?
Growing Bee meant reimagining how AI and {hardware} might work collectively. We centered on creating seamless integration between bodily and digital experiences, connecting with electronic mail, calendar, and different companies whereas studying from real-world interactions. Our beta testing of automated brokers for duties like sending emails and WhatsApp messages reveals how we’re pushing the boundaries of non-public AI capabilities.
How do you envision Bee enhancing individuals’s day by day lives in ways in which present applied sciences haven’t?
Bee helps individuals keep current by understanding their world and dealing with duties within the background. It captures key moments, reminds customers of commitments, and reduces distractions, permitting them to concentrate on what really issues.
How do you see AI wearables evolving over the subsequent 5 years, and what position do you envision Bee taking part in on this ecosystem?
The way forward for AI wearables lies in creating AI that really understands context and integrates seamlessly into day by day life. Bee is main this shift by specializing in steady studying and adaptation relatively than simply including extra options.
Thanks for the nice interview, readers who want to study extra ought to go to Bee.