The costs of adopting GPT-4 are high.
Just ask the tech teams at Zoom. AI foundation models like GPT-4 are expensive, explained Zoom CTO Xuedong “X.D.” Huang. Yet the need to leverage generative AI outweighs this financial hurdle, which is why Huang and his colleagues sought out a more accessible path toward innovation.
“We developed a federated approach to AI, which takes advantage of multiple closed- and open-source advanced large language models working together for better results and lower costs,” Huang said.
Zoom’s federated approach to AI enabled the company’s technologists to develop Zoom AI Companion, an AI digital assistant that helps you draft emails and chat messages, summarize meetings and chat threads, conduct brainstorming sessions, and more — at no additional cost to eligible paid users.
“We are redefining Zoom in the GenAI era,” Huang said.
Reaching this pivotal moment in Zoom’s GenAI journey was a true team effort, as employees with expertise in various subject areas moved together quickly in the pursuit of progress. And, according to Huang, this cross-functional strategy is key to every new solution the company delivers.
“It really takes a village to get new products into the market at scale,” he said.
Relying on each other’s determination and talent, Huang and his peers brought AI Companion to life, unlocking greater efficiency and productivity for teams around the globe.
Below, Huang shares more about how the company’s technologists developed AI Companion, the impact it has had, and how it reflects a wider focus on more effectively serving the company’s customers.
What role did you play in developing and launching AI Companion?
As CTO of Zoom, I am the leader for Zoom AI and am responsible for our AI line of technology and business. I have helped to recruit world-class talent, conceived and pushed our AI strategy, and, most importantly, partnered with other Zoom leaders and teams to deliver our AI services to Zoom’s customers.
How did your team take an innovative approach to developing AI Companion?
We innovated by federating AI models from leading providers, such as OpenAI and Anthropic. With many open-source models on the market, we developed a unique approach to federate Zoom’s models with those of our third-party partners. This allows Zoom to offer our AI capabilities at no additional cost for our eligible paid users across our products.
This reflects how the GenAI revolution has provided new opportunities for companies to reconstruct applications and services that are AI-first instead of bolting AI onto existing applications and services.
A TRUE GAME-CHANGER
According to Huang, Zoom AI Companion has been a game-changer for the platform’s users — and the company has the stats to show it. Compared to GPT-4, the product reduced relative errors by over 20% for Zoom meeting summary recaps and reduced relative errors by 60% for identifying “next steps,” as revealed through an internal blind benchmarking exercise in March 2024.
What teams helped get AI Companion across the finish line, and what strategies were employed to ensure smooth collaboration?
We worked closely not only with engineering and UX, but also with product management and strategy teams. We go deep with our go-to-market teams, which include marketing, sales, sales enablement, technical specialists, customer success, and more, so it can often involve almost the entire organization.
Working with that many teams has its inherent challenges, but in general, we orchestrated a new product introduction process for those teams, held weekly sessions for direct stakeholders, hosted open office hours, and worked to respond quickly to the Team Chat channels we set up. We were lucky to have leaders across the organization who brought their teams to the table.
How does AI Companion reflect a wider focus on more effectively supporting Zoom customers?
Zoom moves very quickly — we have to! Zoom has also grown a lot and has brought in a new class of leadership as we expand the platform, focusing on quality and using AI to help our customers drive a new wave of productivity.
We will continue to release new products and features very quickly, and it’s a great place to be if you want the opportunity to see your work in production. We envision integrating AI seamlessly into every facet of the daily workflow, empowering individuals to unlock their full potential by eliminating barriers to productivity.
