Zoom has unveiled a series of generative artificial intelligence (AI) enhancements to its platform during the annual Zoomtopia conference. The most notable introduction is “Zoom Docs,” a versatile workspace designed for documentation, project management, and data handling.
This feature seamlessly integrates with Zoom's conferencing system, allowing users to generate new documents, attach existing files to meeting invites, and collaborate in real-time. Theresa Larkin, a product marketing manager at Zoom, emphasized that Zoom Docs is not just another word processor but a tool designed for diverse use cases, from project management to team repositories.
AI Companion: The New Assistant
Zoom's AI Companion can be utilized within Zoom Docs to edit content, brainstorm ideas, and provide summaries. This AI tool also offers a whiteboard feature, enabling users to brainstorm collectively and categorize ideas. Additionally, the AI Companion can generate meeting summaries, highlight important points, and even summarize lengthy chat threads. Addressing concerns about data privacy, Randy Mestre, Zoom's head of industry marketing, clarified that the AI Companion does not use customer data for training and offers users complete transparency regarding its functionality.
The Zoom AI Companion was launched last month. It is both an update and rebranding of the Zoom IQ AI assistant. It provides email summaries, enhanced chats, chat summaries, whiteboarding, and task management. Ahead of its launch, the company was forced to change a controversial data gathering policy within the service.
Zoom updated its terms of service in March, claiming all the rights to the data generated by users during their calls. This data includes not only audio and video, but also text, images, and emotions. Zoom planned to use this data to train and improve its new AI features, which it calls “Zoom IQ”. User backlash pushed the company to change the policy and give users more control over their data.
Enhanced Integration and Future Plans
Zoom is also enhancing its integration with Workvivo, allowing users to access the platform directly from the Zoom desktop client. Future AI Companion updates will focus on understanding the context of user queries and providing answers using content from across the Zoom platform. This includes data from previous meetings, chats, and selected third-party apps. Moreover, real-time feedback on presentation skills, auto-completion in chat sessions, and automated scheduling support are on the horizon.
