Zoom Meetings Now Auto-Create Slides and Sheets

The video conferencing giant Zoom is significantly expanding its workplace platform with the introduction of AI-powered Slides and Sheets, moving decisively beyond its core meeting functionality to compete directly with established productivity suites. This expansion is powered by the company’s AI Companion assistant, which now underpins a growing ecosystem of collaborative tools. Alongside these productivity features, Zoom is rolling out new security measures, including advanced deepfake detection for meetings that provides real-time alerts, addressing growing concerns over synthetic media.

These new AI Slides and AI Sheets function by transforming raw data and conversations from meetings into polished presentations and organized spreadsheets. They integrate seamlessly with the existing Zoom Docs and the broader Workplace environment, allowing teams to collaborate on refining content. The AI Companion, recently updated to version 3.0, acts as the central engine for creating and querying these documents. While currently in preview and set for a broader release this spring, these tools are part of Zoom’s clear strategy to become a comprehensive hub for work, connecting to external platforms like Google apps for data access.

Zoom faces stiff competition from giants like Google, which continues to deeply integrate its Gemini AI across its own Docs, Slides, and Sheets. At present, Zoom’s new offerings help it catch up to the market standard rather than providing a decisive competitive advantage. User sentiment also shows some fatigue with the relentless pace of new AI features across all platforms, not all of which have proven transformative. Zoom emphasizes that its AI Companion maintains user privacy, stating it does not use customer content to train its own or any third-party models.

On the security front, the new deepfake detection represents a proactive step. It intelligently scans for synthetic audio or video during meetings and alerts enabled users, who can then decide to leave the call or proceed with caution. Zoom acknowledges that the fast evolution of deepfake technology means security measures require constant enhancement, and the company is developing additional protocols to help users verify identities. This builds on existing integrations, like LinkedIn verification badges, to foster trust in digital interactions.

Further updates enhance the overall platform. AI Companion’s capabilities are expanding across Zoom’s apps, now accessible through a dedicated tab and able to handle administrative tasks like sending post-meeting notes or updating customer records in Salesforce. The platform is also introducing a live voice translation feature for meetings, initially supporting five languages, aimed at breaking down language barriers on international calls. For users hesitant to appear on camera, Zoom is upgrading its avatar technology with more lifelike, expressive options that mirror a person’s facial movements and can even be used to present slides in multiple languages.

For larger organizations, Zoom launched Zoom AI Services, a suite of AI APIs for speech, language, and reasoning. This allows businesses to deploy Zoom’s underlying AI technology, such as transcription and image processing, in their own cloud or on-premises environments. Together, these updates signal Zoom’s commitment to evolving from a simple video tool into an intelligent, secure, and multifaceted workplace operating system.

(Source: ZDNET)