Remember back in the pandemic when the only way to see your coworkers was to force them to turn their cameras on in the Zoom meeting? Those circumstances made the online meeting app one of the most profitable of that whole stupid time but since we’ve been allowed outside again its fortunes have altered somewhat.
This is at least partly what prompted the development of Zoom Docs, a feature that integrates AI into the online meeting app. It’s also the sort of productivity suite we’ve come to expect from everyone from Microsoft to Google, so there’s far more competition for the app now that the feature has launched.
Zooming to the future?
You can think of Zoom Docs as an advanced productivity and collaboration tool that uses AI — specifically the company’s AI Companion tech — to help meeting attendees get stuff done while staring at that little window reserved for their own face.
In brief, it turns meetings into documents so some hapless intern doesn’t have to transcribe everything. The feature can also generate presentations, slideshows, and other media, potentially cutting the overhead needed to turn a productive meeting into actionable er… action. But, as noted back when the feature was announced in 2023, it’ll cost you.
Most paid Zoom users — and there are some of you out there — can start using the AI-back Docs feature via version 6.1.6 of the Workplace app. If you’re still rocking the free version, you’re out of luck but handing over at least R255 (per user per year, and at today’s exchange rate, it seems) gives you and up to nine others access to AI Companion and Zoom’s new features. There’s probably a cheaper way to use AI at work but if your IT department is paying for it…