Zoom founder says attending meetings online waste of time, wants AI to take over
Technology
He envisions a future where AI clones will handle mundane tasks online for users
(Web Desk) - AI is now the new powerhouse, and all tech industry leaders are trying to leverage it in their products.
Discussing AI and plans to integrate its features into video conference platforms, Zoom Founder and CEO Eric Yuan believes AI will not only upgrade the platform but also transform how we work in an office setup.
In fact, Yuan believes that attending online video meetings wastes time, and in future with the use of AI clones, users can replace their presence online with clones, thus saving time and increasing productivity.
In a recent interview with The Verge, Eric Yuan, the founder and CEO of Zoom, shared his vision on how the future of professional work setup and the role artificial intelligence (AI) will play in it.
Yuan believes with future upgrades, AI will take over mundane tasks like attending online meetings, reading emails, and more, freeing humans to focus on more meaningful and creative work.
"If you look at just videoconferencing itself, I think we can leverage AI more and more. You do not need to spend so much time [in meetings]. You do not have to have five or six Zoom calls every day. You can leverage AI to do that."
And this is not just a belief, but the vision for the next version of Zoom or what Yuan calls a "2.0 journey." This new phase of the video conferencing platform involves transforming Zoom from a mere video conferencing tool into a comprehensive collaboration platform deeply integrated with AI. Yuan's vision is not just about enhancing productivity but fundamentally altering how we perceive and interact with our work.
"Not only Zoom calls but also all other work we're doing every day. Chat and messaging, phone calls, emails, whiteboard, coding, creative tasks, manager tasks, project management - all of those things together with AI help and new applications.
That's the direction. That's part of our Workplace [platform]. It's our 2.0 journey," Yuan told The Verge.
While Yuan envisions a future for Zoom including a lot of AI-powered features, he also talks about the emergence of AI clones or AI avatars in the future where employees could delegate many of their tasks to digital versions of themselves.
These avatars could attend meetings, respond to emails, and even make certain decisions on behalf of their human counterparts.
This would not only improve efficiency but also enable a better work-life balance, potentially reducing the work week from five days to four or even three.
According to Yuan, while in the future it will be possible for people to have their own Large Language Model (LLM) that replaces them for online work and even lays the foundation for the digital clone or 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."
