At its annual Zoomtopia conference on Wednesday, Zoom launched several new products, focusing heavily on its enhanced AI companion. The updates are designed to help the company compete with specialized meeting and productivity startups.
New Features for Enhanced Productivity
The new AI companion can now work across multiple platforms, including Google Meet and Microsoft Teams, and even assist with in-person meetings. This is a significant step up from its previous function as a basic transcription bot. The updated features include:
- AI-powered notes: Users can jot down personal notes during meetings, and the AI will expand and organize them into structured summaries.
- Intelligent scheduling: New calendar tools will help users find the best time slots for meetings and even suggest which meetings can be skipped with a “free up my time” request.
- Cross-platform search: The AI companion will now allow users to search for information across various platforms like Google and Microsoft, improving efficiency.
- Proactive recommendations: The AI will suggest tasks and agenda items to help users prepare for upcoming meetings.
Photorealistic Avatars and New Video Tools
Zoom is also introducing photorealistic avatars that mimic user actions during video calls. These avatars can be used when a person is “not camera-ready.” However, concerns about their potential misuse, such as deepfake impersonation, remain, which may lead some corporate IT departments to disable the feature.
Other new video-related tools include:
- Zoom Clips: An asynchronous video tool that allows hosts to use AI avatars to greet participants in waiting rooms and explain meeting objectives.
- Upgraded web interface: A new design will highlight the AI companion and its capabilities.
- Live translation: AI will now support live translation in meetings.
- Video management tool: A new tool to organize and manage video assets.
Zoom’s new features and aggressive AI integration signal its commitment to staying relevant in a competitive market, where the ability to offer advanced, multi-platform solutions is key to retaining users.
