Zoom's latest feature update focuses heavily on its AI assistant

Zoom’s Zoomtopia 2024 feature drop is, perhaps unsurprisingly, focused on actively integrating AI even more into its platform, especially for Zoom Workplace and Zoom Business Services. There’s plenty to talk about, but we’ll focus on Zoom AI Companion 2.0 for Zoom Workplace since this appears to be the biggest news the company is announcing today.

AI Companion 2.0 promises to be a persistent presence in a Zoom Workplace window, and it will even remember previous conversations and come up with citations for statements users made. Since it’s connected to the web, it can work with external apps like Gmail, Google Calendar and Microsoft Office. Other functions include summarizing documents, email chains and generating content drafts.

AI Companion is an assistant designed to help workers find important points in messages, take notes, create post-call summaries and help compose emails. It can also generate content like speaker biographies, event descriptions and messages.

If you haven’t encountered it before, Zoom Workplace is a paid plan designed for companies that have many remote workers. The plan has functions designed to improve collaboration and communication. Besides organizing meetings, Zoom Workplace lets teams schedule events, write on virtual whiteboards and even send clips of meetings to keep members up to speed. It also has features that compete directly with Google like mail, calendars and docs. In short, it’s Zoom for remote and hybrid teams.

AI Companion 2.0 isn’t ready for release yet, but it should be downloadable next month for free if you’re paying for a Zoom Workplace account. It won’t be available for all regions or industries, but Zoom wasn’t more specific about where exactly you can use it.

If the standard AI Companion feature set isn’t enough, there’s Zoom AI Studio, which lets users tailor the companion to their liking. For example, you can teach the AI your company’s unique vocabulary and jargon. It can also reference company HR resources or documentation to provide answers. The custom AI Companion add-on costs $12 per user each month, and it will be available in the first half of 2025. Some features will be available for preview in the next few months.

While the AI Companion works for online meetings, it can also listen in on in-person meetings. Based on available office data, it can provide meeting summaries and even recommend specific days for employees to go into the office.

Besides the many new AI features, Zoom is branching out but offering industry-specific AI functions. So far, there’s Zoom Workplace for Frontline, Healthcare, Clinicians and Education. Zoom Workplace for Education uses AI for lecture summaries, live-generated notes, personalized feedback and more. Frontline users have access to shift summaries, insights, communications and more. Zoom Workplace for Clinicians and Healthcare will each have specialized features that benefit workers in those sectors.

Those interested in these Zoom updates can tune in to Zoomtopia 2024 today if in the US. Another session on the 10th will also be tailored for Asian-Pacific, Middle Eastern and Japanese time zones.