According to Zoom CEO Eric Yuan, the company may soon launch AI avatars that would represent users at meetings. According to reports, this would allow users of the video conferencing platform to work four days a week and concentrate more on in-person interactions. In addition, Yuan talked about Zoom’s future, stressing that it is more than just a video conferencing tool and that it wants to compete with industry titans like Microsoft and Google in the enterprise software space.
In a conversation with The Verge’s Nilay Patel, the CEO highlighted Zoom’s investment in the artificial intelligence (AI) space, especially AI avatars. When it comes to video conferencing, Yuan said that people do not need to spend time in five to six meetings every day. Instead, “You can leverage the AI to do that.”
Thus, AI avatars, coupled with the platform’s phone, chat, messaging, and project management tools, may get people closer to a four-day workweek. “That’s the direction. That’s part of our Workplace [platform]. It’s our 2.0 journey”, Yuan added.
According to the CEO, this may be possible when everyone has their own Large Language Model (LLM) that will serve as the foundation of the AI-powered digital twin. “All of us, we will have our own LLM. Essentially, that’s the foundation for the digital twin. Then I can count on my digital twin. Sometimes I want to join, so I join. If I do not want to join, I can send a digital twin to join. That’s the future.”
By adjusting the parameters, personal LLMs may also benefit the AI avatar in areas where it excels more than the user. Giving an example of attending sales-related meetings despite his lack of skill, Yuan said, “I say, ‘Hey, tune that parameter to have better negotiation skills, send that version, and join'” during the meeting.
Speaking of the technology needed to realize the dream of AI avatars, Yuan stated that AR and AI together “will help us get there.” He did, however, also emphasize that the technologies are still in their infancy.