Zoom has this week (October 9) unveiled its suite of AI-focused innovations as it aims to enhance productivity and transform the way people work.
The announcement was shared at its Zoomtopia 2024 event, with the Zoom AI Companion 2.0 and Zoom Tasks being two of the biggest change-ups to the video call-focused platform.
The original AI Companion was launched in 2023, but it has now been upgraded with new capabilities. These include the ability for users to engage with the AI assistant through a side panel which is available throughout Zoom Workplace.
AI Companion 2.0 is also said to have gained “advanced contextual understanding based on what the user is looking at” in the app and “on previous conversations to provide intelligence suggestions and responses that come with citations…”
Introducing AI Companion 2.0, your personal AI assistant that helps you accomplish even more and get things done across Zoom Workplace https://t.co/YLVrHy4ldm
You can bring it up anytime, or keep it open in a side panel
Understands what you are looking at, your… pic.twitter.com/VoigEOBhGK
— Zoom (@Zoom) October 9, 2024
Interactions from across the Workplace can be pulled in by the assistant including information from Microsoft Outlook, Gmail, Google Calendar, and uploaded files from Microsoft Office and Google Docs if the user is logged in. It will also now be connected to the web so it can answer questions and look up information in real-time.
The assistant can now “detect, track, and complete actions across different workloads” too.
At present, this feature will only be available to Zoom Workplace accounts and will be available in the coming weeks as it is soon to be rolled out.
Zoom Tasks and upgrades to previous AI features announced at the company event
While existing tools have been expanded on, the company is determined to bolster its AI offerings with the all-new ‘Zoom Tasks.’
This will incorporate the use of the Zoom AI Companion (launched last year) to help “detect, recommend, and complete tasks for a user based on conversations” from across the Workplace.
There will be new options to customize the assistant including the creation of custom avatars, but the custom add-on plan will come at an additional cost and won’t be launched until the first half of 2025.
The founder and CEO of the company, Eric S, Yuan, said: “At Zoom, we’re not just reimagining communication—we’re revolutionizing the entire work experience. Our vision is to create an AI-first work platform for human connection that empowers teams to achieve more than ever.
“With AI Companion already enhancing productivity, we are helping our customers transform the way they work. This is more than an evolution; it’s a complete overhaul of how we get things done in the digital age.”
Featured Image: Via Zoom press release
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