Zoom has announced a suite of new features designed to compete with other communication platforms and help users catch up on virtual meetings they join late. The additions include AI‑powered meeting summaries, prompt‑based email responses, whiteboard generation, video huddles, and a meeting scheduler. By expanding its tools, Zoom aims to increase competition with cloud‑based video‑conferencing rivals such as Slack, Calendly, Google, and Microsoft.
The company is also opening its email and calendar clients to all users, encouraging broader adoption of its ecosystem. Zoom IQ, the firm’s AI assistant, will now provide real‑time summaries and allow users to “ask further questions” even when they join a meeting midway. After a meeting ends, the bot posts a summary to Zoom’s team chat, and it can also summarize chat threads. Previously, Zoom IQ could record highlights, divide meetings into chapters, and automatically list action items. Last year, Zoom IQ for Sales was launched to deliver insights from video calls for sales teams.
Zoom’s chief product officer, Smita Hashim, said the company has long integrated AI solutions to boost productivity and is now adding capabilities powered by large language models. “Our unique approach to AI will give customers the flexibility they want and help significantly improve collaboration and customer relations,” she told Computer Weekly.
In addition to the AI enhancements, Zoom introduced Zoom Scheduler (formerly Zoom Spots) in public beta—a Calendly‑like tool for sharing availability and booking appointments. The firm also unveiled virtual coworking spaces called Zoom Huddles, where participants can drop in or out at any time.
These moves come after Zoom laid off 1,300 employees, or 15 % of its workforce, in February. The company’s stock has fallen more than 40 % over the past year, and it reported its first quarterly loss of $108 million since 2018 in the first quarter of the 2023 fiscal year. Zoom now projects slowed growth of 1.1 % for the current fiscal year, with revenue expected between $4.435 billion and $4.455 billion.
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