If you’ve downloaded the latest Zoom app, or use Zoom frequently, you have probably heard that it added AI features. You may also be a little confused as to what they are and why you should care. Here’s the headline: Zoom AI actually can help you and your team when used correctly and sparingly.
When I heard that Zoom was adding Artificial Intelligence features to its product, I was curious. There were predictions of all sorts of “value added” features. There were also the typical Terminator-level fears that your meeting security was at huge risk and that the AI would steal your organization’s secrets and maybe your children. I was more than a little skeptical, which is my default position when it comes to technology.
I haven’t played with all the features, but here are some of the things you may find useful:
Meeting Summaries
It is hard to run a meeting and take accurate, meaningful notes. Asking someone else to take notes may net you some sketchy results. So, I used the Zoom AI for a couple of meeting summaries. I can say the summaries are helpful for identifying action items, capturing main themes, and who actively participated. However, you may want to be a little careful when naming names or talking about people. The robot secretary isn’t much on discretion.
You can also have this meeting summary sent to you by email after the meeting. You probably want to check it for accuracy and discretion before distributing it.
Queries and quick questions
Have you ever been in a meeting and missed when something was due? You don’t want to interrupt the meeting to ask and expose the fact you weren’t listening. You can do a query during the meeting such as: “When is the Jackson project due?” and get a text answer. Yeah, the machine listens better than you do.
Craft a chat response before sending it
Ever want to explain something in the meeting chat but worry that it’s not properly written or sounds too snarky? The Zoom AI Companion will examine your message for context (Did Bob really say what you think he said?), grammar, and tone. You can make sure you don’t derail your meeting or create problems. This has huge implications for those who speak English as a second language and worry about their written communication. Like everything AI-related, read it yourself before sending it out.
Summarize chat threads
You’ve always been able to save a text version of your meeting’s chat. But it can take some work to find the information you want. Pulling out all the questions people asked or generally organizing who said what to whom and when can be complicated. This Zoom AI feature is really slick. I can see it being very useful in training, webinars, or town hall meetings.
As of today, these features are available in paid versions of Zoom only. There are other Zoom AI features specific to tools like Zoom Chat and Zoom Whiteboard that your organization may not have. They are also going to depend on your IT security. The government version of Zoom, for example, disables most of these features and there’s not much you can do about it.
Technology marches on, and you can either march along, get out of the way, or get marched over.
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