How to Make the Most of the Zoom AI Companion as Your AI Meeting Assistant

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Are you making the most out of your Zoom meetings? Managing virtual collaboration effectively can be challenging, especially with time-consuming tasks like note-taking and following up on action items. But what if you could let AI handle it?

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That’s where Zoom AI Companion steps in. Designed to make your meetings more productive, it takes care of those repetitive but essential tasks—like drafting emails, summarizing meetings, and even highlighting key points—so you can focus on what really matters. 

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In this guide, we’ll explore how you can make the most of Zoom AI Companion to keep your meetings running smoothly and efficiently. 

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What Is Zoom AI Companion?

Zoom AI Companion is a suite of AI-powered tools built into Zoom to help you work more efficiently, improve collaboration, and manage tasks across your meetings and communications. 

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It’s designed to seamlessly integrate with Zoom’s features, allowing you to automate routine tasks and enhance productivity without adding any complexity to your workflow. This function is available at no additional cost with the paid services on your Zoom account. 

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Here’s a breakdown of how Zoom AI Companion works across different areas of Zoom:

• Zoom Team Chat: Zoom’s AI Companion can craft personalized chat messages in any desired tone and length. Moreover, you can ask it to summarize previous conversations so you can get up to speed without scrolling through every message. 
• AI Summarization: After any meeting, the AI Companion can provide a concise summary of what was discussed, including any action items, making it easy to follow up on important points. 
• Zoom Whiteboard: With Zoom Whiteboard, AI Companion takes your brainstorming sessions to the next level. It can generate ideas, organize content into categories, and create visual elements like stickies, tables, or mind maps. 
• Zoom Mail: Youcanuse AI Companion suggestions to take over email creation and craft appropriate and professional messages, whether you’re communicating with colleagues or clients.
• Zoom Notes: Zoom’s Companion can help you structure and summarize your notes, making it easier to stay organized and track essential information from your meetings or projects. 
• Zoom Phone: AI Companion extends its benefits to Zoom Phone by summarizing conversations from phone calls and voicemails, so you can extract action items regardless of how you communicate with your team. 
• Conversational Interface: You can privately ask Zoom’s AI Companion for assistance during meetings, such as requesting summaries or updates on action items, simply by typing or speaking your request.

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Zoom AI Companion Features for Meetings

When it comes to meetings, you can use Zoom’s AI companion in several different ways:

• Pre-meeting preparation
• In-meeting real-time support
• Post meeting

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A. Pre-Meeting Preparation

Nailing your meetings often involves setting an agenda, organizing notes from previous sessions, and getting your whole team on the line. With Zoom AI Companion, the entire process is simplified. 

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Here's how Zoom AI Companion helps with meeting preparation:

• Scheduling automation: AI Companion can detect meeting intent from your Zoom Team Chat. For example, if someone mentions the need for a meeting, the AI will offer you a scheduling option, so you can set up Zoom meetings without switching tools.
• Generate meeting agendas: AI Companion assists with creating structured agendas based on prior communications and relevant meeting information. This ensures every meeting starts with a clear direction.
• Prepare for the meeting: The Companion makes it easy to pull up summaries of previous meetings, so you can easily review past decisions, action items, and key topics and walk into meetings fully prepared.

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B. In-Meeting Real-Time Support

Once your meeting is underway, Zoom’s AI Companion steps in as an AI-powered assistant, offering real-time support that helps you stay focused and productive without getting bogged down by administrative tasks. 

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Here's what Zoom AI Companion does during meetings:

• Real-time questions: During the meeting, if you have the ‘AI Companion questions’ enabled, you can ask private questions about the session in progress. For instance, you can ask AI Companion for a quick summary of what’s happened so far or check if your name was mentioned. 

• Note-taking and action item tracking: AI Companion automatically takes notes, tracking key points and action items as they come up in conversation. 
• Whiteboard content generation: If you're using Zoom Whiteboard for brainstorming or project planning, AI Companion can help generate content like stickies, tables, text boxes, and even mind maps based on the discussion. This keeps the meeting visually organized, helping teams collaborate more effectively.

C. Post Meeting

Once the meeting is over, Zoom AI Companion ensures that follow-up tasks are seamless and organized. 

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Here’s what post-meeting tasks you can simplify with Zoom AI Companion: 

• Meeting summaries: AI Companion generates detailed summaries of each meeting, and automatically sends it to the Zoom host, who can share it with participants and those unable to attend the meeting.

• AI Companion smart recordings: For meetings that are Cloud-recorded, Zoom AI Companion goes a step further with:

1. Recording highlights: AI identifies and highlights the most important sections of the meeting, allowing you to revisit only key moments.
2. Smart chapters: The recording is automatically divided into chapters, each with a brief title and summary, so you can skip to specific parts of the meeting.
3. Next steps panel: Suggested next steps based on the meeting are displayed below the recording, ensuring all follow-up tasks are clear and actionable.‍
4. Meeting coach: This feature provides metrics about your meeting performance, such as your talk-listen ratio, speaking speed, and use of filler words to help you improve future meetings.

• Follow-up messages: Hosts can send meeting summaries to everyone involved, making sure all participants have the same information moving forward.
• Seamless integration: AI Companion syncs with tools like Trello or Slack to ensure action items flow directly into your existing task management platforms, minimizing manual data entry.

How to Activate Zoom’s AI Companion

Now that you’re familiar with how Zoom AI Companion can enhance your workflow, let's go over how to activate it. 

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Here’s how to activate Zoom’s AI Companion:

1. Get a paid Zoom user account
2. Check with your admin
3. Log in and update your Zoom client
4. Access your Web portal settings
5. Manage AI Companion settings
6. Begin exploring

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Step 1: Get a Paid Zoom User Account

For you to enable AI Companion capabilities, you’ll need to purchase one of the following subscriptions:

• Zoom Pro: $14.99/month/user
• Zoom Business: $21.99/month/user
• Zoom Business Plus: pricing available upon request

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Step 2: Check with Your Admin

By default, all AI Companion features are disabled, and your organization’s Zoom admin will need to enable them first. If you're in a Zoom meeting and notice the AI Companion icon in your toolbar, click on it to follow the instructions for requesting that your admin activate the feature. 

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NOTE: Admins can enable or disable AI Companion capabilities or features  at both the account and group levels. If you’re unsure who your admin is, reach out to your IT or support team for guidance.

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Step 3: Log In and Update Your Zoom Client

Log into your Zoom client. To activate AI Companion features, you need access to the latest version of Zoom. Check if your Zoom client is updated to version 5.16.0 or higher, as this is the minimum version required to access AI Companion. 

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Step 4: Access Your Web Portal Settings

Once logged in, head to your Zoom web portal account settings:

1. Click Settings in the left-hand panel.
2. Look for the AI Companion tab within the settings menu.

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NOTE: For features that have user-level settings, such as meeting summaries or smart recordings, you can turn each capability on or off according to your preferences. 

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Step 5: Manage AI Companion Settings in One Place

Zoom allows you to manage your AI Companion settings in one place. You can quickly navigate to your settings tab and configure your preferences for all AI Companion features—from meeting assistance to email composition—without switching between screens.

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Step 6: Begin Exploring

Once your AI Companion settings are activated, start exploring! You’ll find the AI Companion icon in various Zoom products, such as:

• The Zoom Meetings controls toolbar
• Zoom Team Chat window
• Other Zoom tools, such as Zoom Whiteboard and Zoom Phone

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Simply click the icon to access AI Companion’s capabilities, whether you need help drafting a message, generating meeting summaries, or asking questions in real time during a meeting. 

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How to Add More Functionality to Your Zoom Meetings with an AI Companion

Looking to take your Zoom meetings to the next level, even if you’re not the host, or you use the free version? MeetGeek’s AI Companion cuts down unnecessary meeting time, streamlines tasks, and allows you to personalize your experience even further. The best part? 

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MeetGeek also supports Google Meet and Microsoft Teams, so you can enjoy the benefits of an AI companion in *virtually* every meeting.

Here’s how MeetGeek can add more functionality to your meetings:

• Automated meeting recording and transcription: With MeetGeek, you don’t have to press any extra buttons, since it connects with your calendar and automatically joins, records, and transcribes every meeting in your calendar.
• Unlimited recording privileges: Unlike Zoom, which requires you to be a meeting host to record your sessions, MeetGeek allows you to record your conversations regardless of your role in the meeting. 
• AI meeting summaries: MeetGeek generates personalized meeting summaries right after your call ends. Whether it’s a sales call, weekly team catch-up, or a board meeting, you’ll have all the information you need in a concise, personalized, and easy-to-read meeting summary.
• Seamless integration with your favorite tools: MeetGeek syncs effortlessly with other apps, including HubSpot, Slack, Notion, or Trello, reducing manual data entry and ensuring that nothing slips through the cracks. For those looking for custom integrations, MeetGeek connects with 10,000+ apps via Zapier integration and offers Open API.  
• Contextual insights: MeetGeek not only records your meetings but also provides valuable insights by tracking trends and speaker engagement. This helps you improve team performance, offers coaching opportunities, and boosts productivity.
  

• Searchable meeting repository: All meeting recordings, notes, and insights are securely stored in a searchable library, making it easy to access past meeting information when needed.

• Automated follow-ups: After every session, MeetGeek automatically generates and distributes professional follow-up emails for your entire team.‍

• Mobile app: If you’re often on the go, MeetGeek’s mobile app allows you to catch up on meetings from anywhere with just a few taps, even when you can’t attend. Plus, with the mobile app, you can enjoy MeetGeek’s features in the real world, record offline conversations with your clients and colleagues, and still get accurate transcripts and summaries.
• Privacy and compliance: While Zoom assures users that it complies with privacy regulations, it has had breaches in the past that raised concerns about data security. MeetGeek complies and goes through regular annual audits for major security protocols, including HIPAA, SOC, and GDPR, ensuring that your data is handled with the highest level of security. 

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Zoom AI Companion Frequently Asked Questions

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1. What are the limitations of Zoom AI companion?

Zoom AI Companion is a powerful tool, but it does have a few limitations to keep in mind. First, Zoom’s AI Companion is only available for those with a free plan. To use it, get a Pro, Business, or Business Plus subscription. Moreover, all AI Companion features are off by default, so you must ask an admin to turn AI Companion features on. 

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Additionally, Zoom AI Companion is not approved for use in meetings that involve sensitive information such as HIPAA data, Social Security numbers, or credit card information, as Zoom has restrictions on recording and storing this type of data. 

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Lastly, AI Companion relies on the latest version of Zoom, so it's essential to keep your Zoom client updated to ensure access to its features.

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2. How secure is the Zoom AI companion?

Zoom AI Companion is built with security and privacy in mind. Zoom does not use any of your meeting data (such as audio, video, transcripts, or shared content) to train its AI models or third-party models. 

However, given that Zoom experienced security breaches in the past, if you’re handling sensitive information, a tool like MeetGeek that is GDPR, HIPAA and SOC-compliant may be more suitable for your needs. 

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3. Does Zoom AI Companion notify participants?

Yes, once enabled by the meeting host, Zoom AI Companion notifies all meeting participants when it is active. A pulsing AI Companion icon appears in the upper left corner of your Zoom meeting when generative AI Companion capabilities are in use, such as meeting summaries or smart recordings. 

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That’s because secretly recording Zoom meetings violates worldwide privacy regulations and may result in serious legal consequences. Even if you use a 3rd party tool to record your sessions, find a solution like MeetGeek that automatically notifies participants so you can avoid any lawsuits. 

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Let AI Take Over Your Zoom Meetings with MeetGeek!

Zoom AI Companion is a valuable tool that can make your meetings more efficient, help you stay organized, and save you time by automating routine tasks. From generating meeting summaries to assisting with real-time questions, it's designed to enhance how you collaborate and communicate. 

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If you want to add more AI functionality and an extra layer of customization to your virtual meetings, start exploring MeetGeek for free today!