Zoom is shedding its video call-based identity and evolving into an AI-first business.
Many of us feel a strange sense of nostalgia when it comes to Zoom, as it gained notoriety during the pandemic.
However, this may be dampened by the fact that Zoom is now abandoning its video call-based identity and following the pattern of various other big tech companies.
The once ‘Zoom Video Communications’ is now just ‘Zoom Communications,’ as it wishes to repackage its image as an AI-based business.
What was once just a video call service now claims to be an “AI-first company delivering modern hybrid work solutions that help you to collaborate seamlessly,” said Zoom CEO Eric S. Yuan in a blog post.
Yuan says that AI has transformed regular working life, and what was originally “nice to have" is now a “must-have.”
As of March 2024, Zoom has nearly 732 million unique global users and has the largest global market share of video conferencing software in the world.
Zoom’s CEO claims that this evolution is a critical component in helping its customers get the best out of their services.
What this actually means
It’s obvious that Zoom wants to be in the running as other big tech companies, including Microsoft, Google, and Meta, are also investing heavily in AI.
This means that the company wants to focus exclusively on building AI-centric tools, products, and solutions. Furthermore, Zoom seems to be focusing on its Zoom AI companion, which will one day “translate into a fully customizable digital twin.”
What does Zoom do with AI?
Like Microsoft and other big tech companies, Zoom utilizes AI to automate tasks like taking notes during a meeting.
Zoom’s AI Companion can answer questions about live meetings. You can even talk to the AI bot and ask it to do different tasks, like noting discussion points and feedback from your meeting.
AI Companion 2.0 can supposedly obtain information from the web to learn more about who you’re chatting with on Zoom.
This “digital twin” can help you respond to chats, recap parts of the meeting you missed, and give you in-depth answers about the conversation's content.
According to Wired, Zoom’s AI companion uses large language models from AI giants like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta. However, Zoom’s AI has also trained itself by listening to thousands of meetings.
This sounds creepy, but it's supposedly only listened in to meetings between Zoom employees.
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