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Key takeaways 

• Zoom Workplace expands with AI Sheets and Slides. 
• Zoom also released deepfake detection tools for meetings.
• Productivity tools are only ramping up their AI features. 

Zoom went beyond video conferencing to begin its AI-powered workplace play with the launch of Zoom Docs in 2023. The tech company is now moving beyond Docs to a more Google-like suite with two new features: AI Slides and AI Sheets.

Undergirding Zoom's Docs, Slides, and Sheets offerings is AI Companion, the company's multitool work assistant, through which users can create the documents and other templates they need. Zoom updated the agent to version 3.0 in December and is expanding its reach across its Workplace collaboration platform. As a refresher, AI Companion is available to certain Zoom Workplace accounts, but also "as a standalone offering" for organizations looking to add an AI-enabled assistant to their workflows where one doesn't exist already. 

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Here's what's new, along with some other notable updates. 

AI Sheets and Slides 

Just like you can ask Gemini to help you create a Google Doc, Zoom AI Companion sits under all of Zoom's new and existing workflow tools, so you can build with it and then query what it's built further. 

Docs has long worked beside Zoom meetings to turn discussed action items, proposals, and ideas into supporting documents as you work. Now, Zoom said, AI Sheets can turn conversations and raw data from meetings and other locations across Zoom Workplace into readable spreadsheets. AI Slides takes the same approach to creating decks, allowing coworkers to collaborate on perfecting them. 

Competing with Google

By outfitting Zoom Workplace with AI-powered tools that mimic what so many people are used to in Google, Zoom is clearly interested in becoming a go-to suite of productivity tools. Given the many ways Google continues to integrate Gemini into its tools, though, it's hard to say yet whether either platform will offer standout features compelling enough to convince users to migrate from one to the other. 

Also: I tested Google Docs' new AI audio summaries, and they're a massive time-saver

Currently, Zoom's AI-powered document offerings mostly help Zoom catch up as a work suite, rather than provide a true competitive edge over Gemini's helpful but still somewhat limited capabilities within Google's Docs, Slides, and Sheets. At the broader level, there's also mounting fatigue among users at the constant conveyor belt of AI features in their systems (not all of them have been huge hits). 

Privacy and availability 

Zoom said AI Sheets and AI Slides will be available in preview this spring, perhaps even this month. In the meantime, Zoom Workplace and its AI Companion still connect to external platforms and data sources, including Google apps, meaning you can query and use information from all your necessary sources. 

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Individual users and enterprises alike increasingly expect privacy from their AI tools. Zoom reiterated in the announcement that "AI Companion does not use customer content to train its models or third-party models." 

New deepfake detection

Speaking of privacy and security, Zoom said it's implementing a new layer of deepfake detection in meetings. In addition to its existing integration of LinkedIn's "verified" badges to help users identify real participants, Zoom launched a security measure that "intelligently detects synthetic audio or video in your meetings and provides real-time alerts" to users, the company said. 

"When potential risks are identified, enabled users will receive an alert, allowing them to exercise caution or take action, such as leaving the meeting," explained Jeff Smith, Zoom's interim chief product officer. "We will continue enhancing our detection capabilities as technology evolves to stay ahead of deepfake risks and help protect our customers."

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Given how rapidly AI-powered deepfakes can scale and evolve, the shelf life of most security measures isn't long. When asked what other protections Zoom was putting in place, Smith added that the company is building out other protocols that "help users trust and verify that the person they're communicating with is who they expect."

Other updates

Zoom is also expanding AI Companion 3.0 capability across its apps. The agent received a dedicated tab in Workplace that lets users access it across more interfaces. AI Companion can also help with more admin now, including sending post-meeting thank-you notes or adding customer details to Salesforce, Zoom said. 

Also: Is your business ready for a deepfake attack? 4 steps to take before it's too late

Workplace received some fresh features, including a live voice feature that translates audio in real time during meetings, which, if successful, should make international calls and language barriers easier to navigate. Zoom noted this feature will launch in five languages: English, Chinese, Spanish, French, and Japanese. The live translator will roll out in beta "with limitations" this month, according to the company. 

For the camera-shy, the company also upgraded its avatar feature. While Zoom has offered avatars for meetings since at least 2022, the company said these new "lifelike or stylized avatars," which should be available this month, can "mirror a user's expressions and lip and eye movements, helping them engage confidently whether on or off camera." You can even use these avatars to present slides in multilingual video clips. 

Earlier iterations of these avatars were also AI-powered. However, the upgraded avatars appear to use the technology at a more finely tuned level for added realism -- though from the press images, it doesn't appear we're in the Uncanny Valley just yet. 

Also: How to switch from ChatGPT to Claude: Transferring your memories and settings is easy 

For enterprises, Zoom also launched Zoom AI Services, a set of "AI APIs for speech, language, reasoning, and more," similar to technology that Zoom's products rely on, according to the company. Zoom noted that the suite offers cloud or on-prem deployment options for services from transcription, such as its Scribe API, to deep reasoning and image processing. 

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