Dive Brief:
- Zoom will incorporate OpenAI’s large language model, the generative AI behind ChatGPT and GPT-4, the video communications company announced Monday.
- The technology will generate Zoom Team Chat and email responses based on input from existing chats, email, phone and meeting threads, the company said. Zoom IQ, a conversational add-on designed for customer service applications, will introduce an AI feature that creates sharable meeting summaries and whiteboard presentations based on text prompts.
- While the AI features will only be available to select customers in April, the company plans to eventually release the chat composition and meeting summary enhancements more broadly. The email composition function will initially be available only to Zoom IQ for Sales customers.
Dive Insight:
Zoom is the most recent software provider to infuse OpenAI tech into its platform.
The additions align with the company’s broader goal to grow its enterprise customer base through AI, automation and software integration solutions aimed at boosting efficiency and improving user experience.
Zoom stock rose precipitously when companies rushed to support remote work with best-in-class video conferencing, then declined as enterprises rationalized spending on collaboration tools.
To bolster the enterprise appeal of its platform, the company launched email and calendar services in November. CEO and founder Eric Yuan committed to layering more AI into its products to help customers maximize ROI during the company’s February earnings call.
Generative AI, the large language model technology powering recent chatbot innovations by OpenAI and Google, is shifting from consumer novelty to enterprise solution.
Microsoft, OpenAI’s major backer, integrated generative AI into its CRM and ERP systems in early March, as did Salesforce, which owns messaging platform Slack.
Google is adding generative AI capabilities to its enterprise suite and has unveiled its Bard chatbot on a limited basis.
The flurry of activity around the technology hit the developer space last week, with GitHub deploying GPT-4 to its engineering platform.
In addition to AI enhancements, Zoom announced three additional upgrades Monday.
Subscribers will now have access to a video-enabled virtual coworking environment rebranded as Zoom Huddles (formerly Zoom Spots), a beta version of its multicamera Intelligent Director capability and a scheduling app that integrates Zoom’s meetings, mail and calendar apps with Google and Microsoft office platforms.
