Zoom's 'AI Companion' delivers new features to all paid accounts
Productivity applications are always looking for new approaches to implementing AI in ways that can improve the workflows of business professionals. Recently, Otter.ai, Slack, and Google Workplace unveiled new AI features and now Zoom is following suit.
This week Zoom unveiled its "AI Companion" -- formerly known as Zoom IQ -- which will serve as a new generative AI assistant for the video conferencing service. The assistant is meant to help automate tasks that are time-consuming and not necessarily conducive to productivity.
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For example, AI Companion will help users compose chat responses with a customizable tone and length based on their prompt and response needs. Starting later this month, the assistant will be able to help compose emails and summarize unread chat messages.
The AI Companion will also assist users in better understanding and interacting with their video calls. For example, if an attendee is late for a meeting, the AI assistant can quickly catch them up.
After the meeting, attendees can revisit the AI Companion's smart recordings that automatically divide the call into smart chapters for easier user review. The Companion will also highlight important information and even create action items from the call.
If a user is unable to attend a meeting, they can visit the AI Companion's meeting summary, which includes accounts of what was said, by whom it was said, and highlights of important topics.
In the fall, other AI Companion features will include the detection of meeting intent in chat messages accompanied by an automatic scheduling button and the generation and display of ideas on a digital whiteboard for brainstorming.
Zoom also used the AI Companion announcement as an opportunity to address the recent controversy regarding the company's revised AI privacy policy. The company is reassuring users that their data will remain protected and not be used to train Zoom's or third-party AI models.
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"In line with our commitment to responsible AI," wrote Zoom chief product officer Smita Hashim, "Zoom does not use any of your audio, video, chat, screen sharing, attachments, or other communications-like customer content (such as poll results, whiteboard, and reactions) to train Zoom's or third-party artificial intelligence models."
Zoom's AI Companion is available at no additional cost for paid Zoom plans starting today. Users can also upgrade to a paid plan option to access AI Companion.