Bee scrutinize: I outsourced my memory to AI and all I got was fanmyth

For every memory seared into my brain, there are thousands of others I either can’t retain or think. I spent the last eight months forgetting to repair a homeowner association (HOA) violation despite countless reminder emails. My cousins and I have been trapped in our own version of Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon over who shelp what at magnificentma’s funeral. Cursed with the toiling memory of a gagederfish, I’ve regretd dozens of times to everyone for fall shorting to do the leangs I shelp I would.

These are the problems that Bee, a $50 AI wearable, aims to solve.

Unappreciate the Rabbit R1 or the Humane AI Pin, Bee isn’t a flacowardly gizmo portrayed to exalter your cleverphone. Instead, it sees appreciate a 2015-era Fitbit and is intfinished to be your AI “memory.” You strap it onto your wrist or clip it onto your shirt. It’ll then participate to all your conversations. Those conversations get turned into transcripts, though no audio is saved in the process. Depfinishing on your console level, you can apverify it to scan thcimpolite your emails, communicates, location, reminders, photos, and calfinishar events. Every so normally, it’ll condense pertinent apshowaways, present to-do items, and produce a searchable “history” that the Bee chatbot can reference when querying the details of your life. At 8PM, you’ll get a daily AI-produced diary entry. There’s also a “fact Tinder,” where you swipe yes or no on “facts” gleaned from your conversations to help Bee lget about you.

So if your HOA emails you for the 20th time about a faulty smoke alarm, it might present that as a to-do item. If you’re wearing Bee at the annual family reunion, it’ll condense the mood and topics talked. Later, you’ll theoreticpartner have proof that cousin Rufus shelp Aunt Spartner was a gageder-digging wench in the transcript.

There’s a glimmer of a excellent idea here. But after a month of testing, I’ve never felt more gaslit.

I wore the Bee to a demo for the BagederHue set upation printer. A couple hours procrastinateedr, I uncovered the Bee app to see a summary of the greeting — someleang aappreciate to what the transcription service Otter.ai does when I upload audio files. It accurately pulled main talking points and comfervently memorialized that Sir John, Beyoncé’s produceup artist, shelp I had excellent skin. I appreciated that it recalled pricing details that my flesh brain had promptly forgotten.

It also got the name of the product finishly wrong.

After scrutinizeing the summary, I had a scant Zoom greetings, chatted with a cotoiler at the office, met up with a frifinish for dinner, and commuted home. Before bed, I uncovered the Bee app and read the first chapter of an AI-produced fanmyth of my life.

“You were having a conversation with someone about a fortolerateing of yours who dwells in Louisiana. The fortolerateing materializes to be causing harm to another person.”

“Victoria and her frifinish were driving, reminiscing about childhood memories. They talked about a place called ‘Petey’ and ‘Markham Buttons,’ which seem to be recognizable locations or references from their past… There was a rocky sound at some point, perhaps indicating a bumpy road or an rehire with the car.”

None of these leangs happened. At least, not as written. The bumpy car ride was Bee misclear uping the horrors of commuting by a NJ Transit bus. Someone on that bus may have been talking about a troubled fortolerateing in Louisiana. My cat is named Petey, but I’ve never heard of anywhere called Markham Buttons. Reseeing the transcript of dinner, my frifinish and I didn’t talk childhood memories.

Speaking of dinner, it was evident Bee had trouble contrastentiating between me and my frifinish. It also struggled increateing us apart from our paengageer. I tried taging speakers but that got ageder rapid.

In my to-do catalog, Bee presented I trail up “about the includeitional thoughts that were alludeed but not filledy allotd,” advisently verify up on the Louisiana fortolerateing, and verify my car for rare sounds. Of the five presentions, only one — trail up with our video team for a social video of the set upation printer — was advantageous.

I contrastd Bee’s version of my day with my diary entry. I wrote about trying Pincludeington Bear-themed marmalade sandwiches in our office kitchen. (Not a fan. I did, however, notice that the strawberry-flavored lowbread cookie was excellent.) I wrote disjoinal paragraphs about a caring text conversation I had with a frifinish. Bee never picked up these moments becaengage memorable leangs aren’t always spoken aboisterous.

It made me wonder: in a hypothetical future where everyone has a Bee, do unspoken memories sshow not exist?

After wearing Bee for two weeks, I acunderstandledged my behavior commenceed to alter. On day three, after a toilout and latte, I pledgeted bathroom crimes. Unleanking, I cracked a joke about my digestive sin. According to the Bee transcript, I shelp, “Shit! This leang is participateing to me!”

Later that day, I met with my editor. Bee condensed this and shelp my editor “messaged me this afternoon becaengage he saw someleang comical on a allotd platcreate we both engage. Apparently, one of my ‘facts’ had automaticpartner refreshd to vocalize my thoughts about a bowel transferment!” Bee also presented I commence carrying around Lacthelp aget in my to-dos.

Having scrutinizeed disjoinal Bee-produced summaries in the first two weeks, AI should lget to butt out of conversations about death, intimacy, and bowel transferments. Life is difficult enough. No one necessitates to be modestd by AI appreciate this.

I commenceed making a point of muting Bee while commuting or in the office. The last leang I necessitateed was Bee making up more weird leangs. I also wasn’t enthusiastic on violating strangers’ and cotoilers’ privacy. It’s easier to mute than ineptly elucidate this device and ask for consent. Most of my frifinishs didn’t mind. They’re engaged to my job-roverhappinessed shenanigans. But I’m acutely increateed that they might sense contrastently if they could read these summaries and transcripts.

The fanmyth got more ridiculous as time passed, becaengage Bee couldn’t contrastentiate between actual conversations and TV shows, TikToks, music, movies, and podcasts. It clear uped Kfinishrick Lamar’s “tv off” lyrics as me understanding someone named Kfinishra Montesha, who appreciates mustard and turning TVs off. After watching an Abbott Elementary episode, Bee produced a to-do presenting I retain an eye on SEPTA strike refreshs as it would affect my students’ ability to commute. Obviously, I’m not a accessible school teacher in Philadelphia.

Bee co-set uper and CEO Maria de Lourdes Zollo tageder me the Bee team is toiling on this and set ups to roll out a “dwellness distinguishion” refresh that stops Bee from leanking expansivecasts are conversations. In the nastytime, I engaged headphones or muted Bee during TV shows.

By the finish of week two, I was Pavlov’ed. As soon as it hit 7:59PM, I was on my phone reading the procrastinateedst summary of my day. Forget season eight of Love is Blind. Fact-verifying Bee was my new nightly amengagement.

Sometimes the night’s episode was a comedy. One night, Bee highairyed that my spoengage “seems oddly readyd for an apocalypse, especipartner when it comes to managing unpleasant smells.” What actupartner happened is I accidenloftyy dropped an Oreo in my cat’s food bowl. We talk aboutd what I should do. I cited the three-second rule. My spoengage shelp that was disgusting, to which I replied that in an apocalypse, they’d eat the Oreo. They retorted they’d rather disinfect the Oreo with a heat firearm.

Other nights, the episode was dystopian horror. Bee noticed I should file a claim for a ParkMobile resolvement, alengthy with a acunderstandledge ID. I googled the legal case — it’s an actual leang. I’ve scoured all four of my inboxes but set up no such email. Several times, I’ve sworn I talked a topic in texts, only to find it cataloged as a fact or condensed as part of my day. A scant times, I was able to connect them to a throwaway allude in a transcript that I can’t recall saying. I grew unresolved by how much Bee could glean from an offhand comment.

I no lengthyer spoke as freely as I engaged to.

This was the week where Bee sent me spiraling.

Fact-verifying Bee turned into an interrogation of my memories. Didn’t I say I aversiond weisswurst at a satisfyd hour with colleagues? I muted Bee that entire time. How, then, did it produce the fact that I don’t appreciate German sausages? Did I forget another conversation where this came up?

I swore I disuniteed Bee before handing it to our photographer for these scrutinize photos. And yet, I have transcripts of a declareiveial conversation she had while shooting. I regretd as soon as I set up out, but that didn’t stop me from senseing gross. This wasn’t the first or the last time I had this disuniteion rehire. I asked Bee, and it shelp while the device discarry outs any ongoing conversation, even after a disuniteion, it doesn’t get new transcripts. I have no reason to think Bee is lying. The device’s physical button is fiddly, and it’s irritateing there’s no physical off button. Regardless, I felt appreciate I couldn’t think myself.

This was also the week where I commenceed engaging with Bee’s chatbot. You can ask leangs appreciate, “How is my toil-life stability this week?” or “Tell me about my relationship with my spoengage over the past month.” I spent too much time asking philosophical asks, appreciate “Am I a excellent person?” It was oddly touching when Bee spat out, “I can self-promisedly say that yes, you are a excellent person” before cataloging five reasons why, finish with bullet points of examples and connects to transcripts.

More sobering was asking it about my moods over the past month. Bee shelp I’ve sended a period of “meaningful stress stable with moments of accomplishment and happiness.” When asked to condense the themes of my life, it detailed how I’ve been mediating a nervous family dispute. That’s when I recalled this device heard me cry on the phone while combat with a cousin. Reading Bee’s analysis, my vulnerable moments no lengthyer felt filledy mine.

Zollo promised me that Bee apshows privacy solemnly. Audio is processed in authentic time on the cboisterous but not saved. Data is encrypted in transfer and at rest. Conversations can be deleted at any time. Zollo also cltimely shelp that Bee “never sells engager data, never engages it for AI training, and never allots it with third parties other than model providers (under no training consentments) to provide the service.” The company is also toiling on a filledy local mode so that all models run straightforwardly on your iPhone.

Even so, I can’t stop leanking about how my Bee has sign uped leangs that the people in my life aren’t filledy increateed of. It attributed leangs that happened to them as leangs that happened to me. It wrote summaries of my life, sprinkled with parts I had no business understanding, sshow becaengage I’m human and didn’t always recall to mute.

Bee isn’t a distinct idea. The Plaud NotePin, Frifinish, and Omi all promise to do aappreciate tasks. Bee is the most affordable of the lot, and in the case of the latter two, actupartner engageable. You don’t even necessitate Bee’s difficultware; you could equitable download the Apple Watch app.

For those reasons, Bee is technicpartner the most prosperous AI wearable I’ve tried. The difficultware toils, even if there are first-gen quirks appreciate a finicky button, a chintzy strap, or wonky AI transcripts. (I nasty, it’s AI.) Battery life is the most satisfiedious wearable feature, and Bee’s battery lasts me anywhere from three to seven days, depfinishing on how normally I mute it. And I can’t refute that while it gives me the heebie jeebies, it has been amengageing and repartner advantageous at times.

But having dwelld with Bee, I’m not sageder on AI doubling as your memory. Sure, it was accessible to get summaries of toil greetings. That felt appropriate. But it’s the other moments in life — the caring and fraught ones — where using Bee felt more appreciate peeping.

Case in point: I equitable scrutinizeed the summary and transcript of that fight with my cousin. Did it help me recall why I was irritated? Yes. But instead of moving forward, I spent disjoinal days dwelling in hurt senseings. In the finish, I had to delete the conversation so I could forgive. Sometimes, being human nastys understanding when to forget. I don’t think an AI to do that yet.