Zoom introduces new AI-powered features to compete with Microsoft and Google while fighting for relevance beyond meetings

Zoom, a video conferencing company that recently laid off 1,300 employees, is introducing new features to compete with other companies such as Slack, Calendly, Google, and Microsoft. These features include AI-powered meeting summaries, prompt-based email responses, and whiteboard generation, along with video “Huddles” and a meeting scheduler. Zoom is opening up its email and calendar clients to everyone, and offering hosted email and calendar services with end-to-end encryption protection and custom domains for paid users. The company is also expanding its Zoom IQ assistant to provide AI-powered summaries and “ask further questions” during meetings. Additionally, Zoom has launched Zoom Scheduler, a tool similar to Calendly for scheduling appointments, and Zoom Huddles, virtual coworking spaces for quick voice or video-based real-time conversations.

Zoom is fighting battles on multiple fronts, introducing generative AI features to compete with Microsoft and Google, and fighting to be a relevant workplace tool beyond meetings that rivals Slack, Calendly, and Otter. The company's stock has declined by over 40% in the last 12 months, and it faced its first quarterly loss of $108 million since 2018 in the fourth quarter results for the 2023 financial year. Despite this, Zoom is promising a generative future with Zoom IQ helping users compose chats, emails, and whiteboard sessions, creating meeting agendas, and inviting users to try these features out next month with plans for a wider rollout later. Zoom is partnering with OpenAI for the AI features, although it is unclear if the partnership includes just API usage or more.