Web conferencing platform Zoom is adopting AI to make sure that everyone can be seen in virtual meetings, with new tool ‘Intelligent Director’.
The new feature will actively track all participants and make sure their image is shared on the screen, no matter where they are in the room.
It’s the latest AI feature that Zoom has added to its platform, following March’s additions of whiteboard and automated meeting recaps.
What is Intelligent Director?
Zoom has just announced plans to roll out its Intelligent Director function. The tool is designed to make sure all meeting participants can be equally seen, regardless of their position in the room.
So how does the Intelligent Director work? Zoom’s new feature is made possible thanks to software that focuses on each meeting participant’s face, displaying their mugshot in a box on the screen and tracking them as they move about.
Designed for medium to larger sized rooms, the feature can frame up to 16 meeting participants, across multiple cameras, and AI will even help Zoom use the best video feed for each person.
Zoom claims that using the system, each meeting participant is granted equal space on the video call, with no more instances of people in awkward spots in the room being squeezed out or ignored.
“Even with some employees in the office, oftentimes other team members are dispersed, so meeting equity and inclusion become more important than ever. Intelligent Director is the solution that can bring employees together, regardless of location, so they can truly connect face-to-face.” – Smita Hashim, chief product officer at Zoom
The feature marks the latest use of AI from Zoom, after it launched several other AI time-saving tools in March, such as whiteboards and automated meeting recaps.
How to Get Zoom Intelligent Director
If you like the sound of Intelligent Director, you’ll need to make sure that you have the latest Zoom Rooms 5.15.0 firmware installed, to access its beta.
Be warned that Intelligent Director won’t work on every set up. It requires specific cameras, and also needs an M1 chip or Intel i5 processor or higher. Zoom has partnered with various manufacturers on the project, including Poly, Intel, Logitech, Yealink, Apple and Dell
If you’d like to see what other web conferencing platforms are out there (yes, there’s more to video calls than Zoom), check out our dedicated web conferencing apps comparison guide.
