My therapist thinks I should chuck the Amazon Bee Frontier out a window

Therapist suggests abandoning Amazon Bee Frontier wearable

In her weekly newsletter, Verge senior reviewer Victoria Song discusses her experiences with the Amazon Bee Frontier, an always-recording AI wearable. She explains how the device transcribes and summarizes conversations, and how it provides a list of to-dos, areas for improvement, and summaries of conversations. However, Victoria's therapist has advised her to discard the device due to its inaccuracies.

Victoria's therapist, who has known her for 11 years, worries that the device is causing her to question reality. Victoria grew up with a father she suspects may have been a spy and an immigrant family with differing accounts of events. This has made her sensitive to discerning truth from fiction.

Victoria initially welcomed the idea of a reviewable record, like the Bee Frontier, to help her build trust in her own memories. However, the device's AI does not always accurately capture the details of her conversations. It has incorrectly concluded that she frequently argues with a coworker's spouse, that she believes a family member has undiagnosed bipolar disorder, and that she often wears her good pants for important video calls.

While the device's recent improvements in transcription accuracy have helped in some cases, Victoria still feels disoriented and gaslit when she sees the AI's transcripts and summaries. It has incorrectly identified her relationships and even generated a "fact" about a traumatic childhood event, causing her distress during therapy sessions.

Victoria's therapist believes that the device's design can make users forget it is listening, which may contribute to these issues. The device also learns facts about users based on their approval or dismissal, which can lead to inaccuracies in the device's database. Victoria feels that the device's attempt to summarize her serious conversations has led to a strong emotional reaction and uncomfortable memories.