Zoom Workplace AI Collaboration Platform Launched, Desktop App Updated With New Features

Zoom Workplace was launched on Monday as the video meeting service's artificial intelligence (AI)-powered collaboration platform. The company first unveiled the new platform in March, and less than a month after the announcement, it has now made it available to users globally. Zoom Workplace will be part of the same desktop app but will offer a new interface that is integrated with AI features. Some of the new features included with the platform are AI Companion, a new Meetings experience, and new functionality in Team Chat.

The company announced the launch of Zoom Workplace via a blog post that said users can access the new features on the latest version of the Zoom app for desktop (version 6.0 or later). It is available to all paying subscribers, at no additional cost. Free users do not currently have access to Zoom Workplace, which means they will have to purchase Zoom Pro, the most affordable paid plan of the platform to leverage the AI capabilities that is priced at Rs. 13,200 a year.

The videoconferencing platform also shared details of its Zoom AI Companion, the AI assistant designed to perform multiple tasks. The AI Companion is claimed to be capable of transcribing audio with 95 percent accuracy and delivering results four times faster compared to OpenAI's GPT-4-powered ChatGPT web client. Zoom did not disclose details about the AI assistant, including what large language model (LLM) which is powering it or its architecture.

The chatbot offers multiple functions such as summarising meetings, brainstorming ideas, drafting chat messages and emails, and more. Notably, users will also get to integrate the chatbot with Zoom Phone and get post-call summaries, voice mail prioritisation, and more.

Apart from this, Zoom has added a new Meetings tab, which comes with calendar support and a detailed view that shows the entire meeting lifecycle as well as all the files and information shared before and during the meeting. The interface comes with a simplified toolbar, a multi-speaker view, and four colour themes, offering an improved experience compared to the standard interface.

Zoom's Team Chat is also getting new functionalities. Users will be able to see channel-related assets, whiteboards, and resources in a single view. These tools can be used within the chat layout, allowing users to speak with others which accessing them at the same time.