Zoom Integrates Generative AI into Its Product Offering

If you use Zoom for video calls at work, get ready for some changes. The technology company is using artificial intelligence (AI) to address common user complaints and optimize the video calling experience in its flagship product's first major update in over 10 years.

Following the announcement of Zoom Workplace a few weeks ago, the AI-driven collaboration platform was made available to users on Monday. This redesign updates almost every detail of the application.

"Zoom Workplace offers an AI-driven experience that enhances productivity and collaboration, helping teams make the most of their time," said Smita Hashim, Zoom's Chief Product Officer, in a statement.

Improved Interactions

Zoom has also added some features to help users interact better with other meeting participants. The new portrait lighting feature uses AI to illuminate users' faces in low light conditions while darkening the background for a portrait effect. I had the opportunity to see this feature in action during a demo, and it works remarkably well, making the speaker look well-lit.

Additionally, the personalized audio isolation feature eliminates background noise and helps users have clear conversations in noisy environments such as busy offices or coffee shops. Lastly, the dynamic reactions feature allows users to express their reactions with larger and more vivid emojis than before.

Enhanced Collaboration

Zoom has also added new collaboration features, such as a new "Meetings" tab where users can find all the information they need for a meeting, including PDFs, videos, and other resources as shown in the image below.

After the meeting, the Meeting Events Center collects all the content shared during the meeting, including meeting materials, AI-generated instant summaries, recording files, and continuous meeting chats.

The continuous meeting chat feature automatically shares the meeting recap in the team chat after the meeting ends, including materials and summaries. According to the press release, the team chat tab next to the "Meetings" tab will help users access all resources related to the chat, such as materials, real-time links, and whiteboards.

Team Chat will also introduce new generative AI features in Zoom AI Companion, such as thread summaries for quick message replies, sentence auto-completion for writing new messages, and prompts for quickly scheduling meeting arrangements proposed in the chat.

How to Access Zoom Workplace

The company states that account owners and users can access Zoom Workplace by updating their Zoom application to version 6.0.0 or by downloading the update from the Zoom website. Zoom AI Companion is free for customers who allocate paid services to their Zoom user accounts, which may mean that if you are a free Zoom user, you will not have access to the AI features.