Zoom offers AI-based updates to its Workplace collaboration space

Online meeting platform Zoom this week announced updates to its meeting collaboration space Workplace, adding AI-powered capabilities that include a previously released “assistant” that offers post-meeting summaries and the ability to compose chats and email drafts. 

Available through Zoom’s desktop app, the Workplace collaboration platform includes the use of its Zoom AI Companion, which it released last September. 

The AI Companion, enabled in the toolbar, uses OpenAI’s ChatGPT generative AI (genAI) features to perform tasks such as presenting a summary of a meeting, identifying action items, and prompting users to share next steps with key meeting members.

The company’s new Zoom Phone capabilities also offer post-call summaries, voice mail prioritization, and task extraction, among other features. 

In January, Zoom launched a mixed reality app that works with Apple’s Vision Pro headset to offer users a 3D representation of meeting participants along with three dimensional representations of media and design files.  For example, an animator or game designer could collaborate and share the latest character model via Zoom’s 3D object sharing capabilities.

Zoom’s Workplace collaboration app offers features such as a combined meetings and calendar view on one tab, along with a new “agenda” view for meeting participants. 

Users of  Zoom’s desktop app will notice the Workplace name throughout the app, the company said.

Workplace now offers what the company referred to as a “simplified navigation bar” at the top to make it easier for users to organize and find the tabs used most often. Users also can drag and drop tabs into their preferred order.

Workplace also offers a choice of new color themes and to opt for Zoom’s classic dark or light themes in a desktop’s app settings. The toolbar can also be customized by dragging and dropping items (including from the “More” menu) into place.

Finally, Workplace offers a multi-speaker view that will highlight people who are actively speaking in a meeting with more than five participants.

Another feature Zoom said will be available “soon” is the Ask AI Companion, a chatbot that will complete routine user tasks, such as creating meeting preparation materials with relevant content such as meeting summaries and chat threads, drafting agendas, and brainstorming ideas. 

“Ask AI Companion will be available throughout Zoom Workplace, so your AI-powered digital assistant is always at your fingertips, helping to elevate your performance and free up your schedule,” Zoom said in a blog post.