Video conferencing giant Zoom has announced a series of AI-powered features designed to improve worker productivity, including digital avatars for those who don’t want to show their face.
Announced at its Zoomtopia 2024 event, the new releases included AI Companion 2.0, an upgraded version of its assistant, which promises to deepen the integration of generative AI within the company’s app.
Zoom AI Companion 2.0 will include a persistent side panel that integrates across Zoom Workplace, contextual understanding based on ongoing interactions and previous conversations, advanced synthesis of information from emails, calendars and uploads, web connectivity for real-time information gathering and action tracking to automatically detect and complete tasks across workflows, likening the feature to a personal assistant.
Zoom goes all-in on AI
The company confirmed that the upgraded AI Companion will roll out in the coming weeks at no additional cost for paying Zoom Workplace customers.
Further blurring the boundaries between digital and real life, mobile devices running the Zoom Workplace app can leverage AI Companion to create summaries and action items from face-to-face interactions.
To coincide with the announcement, Zoom also announced a custom add-on for AI Companion for $12 per user per month. Set to arrive in the first half of 2025, it will bring a more customized AI Studio, integration with third-party apps like Atlassian, Workday and Asana, and AI-generated avatars for Zoom Clips for presentations.
Speaking about AI Companion 2.0, CEO Eric Yuan added: “This is more than an evolution; it’s a complete overhaul of how we get things done in the digital age.”
Besides Zoom’s efforts to improve its Companion-branded assistant, the company also announced a suit of upgrades to its Workplace ecosystem – apps and features with specific purposes that benefit from artificial intelligence enhancements.
The new Zoom Tasks uses this AI to detect, recommend and complete tasks based on conversations across Workplace, while Zoom Phone has gained support for real-time queries and summaries.
Users can also generate voicemail greetings based on their voiceprint to avoid having to manually change voicemail messages according to calendar schedules, such as when they’re away on vacation, while Zoom Docs gets a handy upgrade including new data table views and upgraded permission controls.
“Our vision is to create an AI-first work platform for human connection that empowers teams to achieve more than ever,” Yuan noted.
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