Zoom Taps AI to Empower Customers in Safe Hybrid Work Environment

Zoom has made significant advancements in its artificial intelligence (AI) technology as it aims to empower customers to work smarter in a hybrid work environment.

On Monday (Aug. 21), the company announced the launch of several new AI innovations as part of an “aggressive road map aimed at empowering our customers to work smarter and to serve their customers better,” Zoom Founder and CEO Eric Yuan told analysts on a Monday (Aug. 21) second quarter earnings call.

One of the highlights of Zoom’s AI technology is the launch of Zoom Scheduler, which Yuan said simplifies the process of scheduling meetings with people outside of an organization. Using AI and multiple cameras, Zoom Scheduler provides optimized image and angle of participants joining from different locations, ensuring a high-quality meeting experience.

In addition to Zoom Scheduler, Zoom has introduced Zoom Clips and Zoom Team Chat, both features enhancing communication and collaboration among team members, making it easier to stay connected and productive.

Zoom has also made progress in integrating Work Weibo, a platform that aims to build culture across a distributed workforce. This integration allows organizations to foster a sense of belonging and collaboration among employees, even when they are working remotely.

Executives also discussed the potential of generative AI to drive more usage and adoption of Zoom’s non-core products, such as Zoom Phone and Contact Center.

“Phone is obviously doing really well. It has hit its stride but remember, that’s taken three to four years to accomplish,” Zoom CFO Kelly Steckelberg said on the call. “We expect Contact Centers to follow the same. It just needs a little more time.”

Looking ahead, Zoom said it plans to continue investing in AI technology to further support its customers’ operations and will leverage AI to deliver services that empower customers in this era of hybrid work.

Finally, the online collaboration platform said it has made privacy and data protection a focus area to ensure customer content is protected. “Zoom does not use customer content to train our AI models … [and] is taking a leadership position in ensuring customers can use our AI features with confidence where their content is protected,” Yuan noted.

His comments come after a report that surfaced earlier this month that Zoom is using customer data to train its AI models. According to the CNBC report, the update sets Zoom’s right to use some aspects of customer data for training and tuning its AI or machine learning models.