Zoom's AI for Meetings A Game-Changer in Productivity
Discover Zoom's new AI feature “AI Companion” Streamline meetings, take notes automatically, and boost focus. Get ready with training and clear guidelines for your team!
Wednesday, Nov 15, 2023
Zoom’s AI Companion for Meetings: A Hands-On Review
Zoom, the popular video conferencing platform, has just released a set of AI features that will massively impact our meeting productivity moving forward. These features are collectively known as “AI Companion.” They include:
- Meeting summaries, generated by AI and emailed to you shortly after the meeting.
- An in-meeting AI assistant that can help you get the most out of your meetings.
What is Zoom AI Companion?
Zoom has been using AI for a while now, and they’ve recently rebranded their AI assistant from Zoom AI IQ to Zoom AI Companion. It can help you write chat responses in the right tone and length, summarize meetings and recordings, and catch you up on what you missed. It can also automatically divide cloud recordings into chapters, create action items, and highlight important information.
In a blog post, Zoom announced the rebrand and said, “We are excited to introduce you to AI Companion (formerly Zoom IQ), your new generative AI assistant, across the Zoom platform. AI Companion empowers individuals by helping them to be more productive, connect and collaborate with teammates, and improve their skills.”
A Smarter Meeting Experience
Zoom’s new AI features are a game-changer for meetings. The summaries and AI Companions features work really well, and they have the potential to revolutionize the way we meet.
The in-meeting AI Companion is particularly impressive. You can prompt it in any way you want, and it can help you to catch up on what you missed, identify when your name has been mentioned, or list out action items. It’s like having a personal assistant in the meeting with you.
The after-meeting summaries are also great. They are helpful, accurate, and factual, and they are generated quickly. You can even edit the summaries after the fact if needed.
These features simply create a much better, smarter meeting experience. Any meeting that doesn’t have the summary feature and an AI companion is going to feel inefficient and archaic.
AI Companion is also going to have a huge impact on productivity. Microsoft, Google, and others have already planned similar features, and given the sheer volume of virtual meetings, these AI features are going to dramatically increase productivity.
Benefits for AI Companion
Here are some of the ways that AI Companion can improve your meeting productivity:
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It can help you to stay focused and engaged in the meeting: By automatically taking notes and generating summaries, AI Companion can free up your time and attention so that you can focus on the discussion.
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It can help you to catch up on what you missed if you join a meeting late: With AI Companion, you can quickly get up to speed on the discussion and identify any key takeaways or action items.
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It can help you to identify important information: AI Companion can scan the meeting transcript and identify key takeaways, action items, and next steps. This can save you a lot of time and effort when it comes to reviewing the meeting notes.
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It can help you to follow through on to-dos: AI Companion can generate a list of action items from each meeting, and it can even send you reminders to follow up on those items. This can help you to stay on top of your work and to meet your deadlines.
What to Do About It
Prepare for AI’s impact on meetings. “Are companies ready for this?” AI’s impact on meetings will be positive, but potentially disruptive. Companies should consider if these AI features affect anyone’s job (Administrative assistants, for instance). They should also start thinking about how to effectively reallocate the time saved by teams using these features. Education and usage policies can also be helpful. Initially, it may be strange for some staff to get used to AI summaries and companions during meetings.
Here are some specific things that companies can do to prepare for AI’s impact on meetings:
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Communicate with employees about the new features: Explain how they work and why they are being implemented.
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Provide training on how to use the new features: This will help employees to get the most out of them and to avoid any potential disruptions.
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Develop usage policies for the new features: This will help to ensure that they are used in a productive and efficient manner.
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Monitor the usage of the new features and make adjustments as needed: This will help to ensure that the features are meeting the needs of employees and the company.
You may also like: Business Meeting Summary Generator
Conclusion
Zoom’s AI Companion is a powerful new tool that has the potential to revolutionize the way we meet. By automating tasks such as taking notes and generating summaries, AI Companion can free up our time and attention so that we can focus on more important things. Companies that are prepared for AI’s impact on meetings will be well-positioned to reap the benefits of this new technology.