Zoom has unveiled AI Companion 3.0, a major update that moves its artificial intelligence assistant beyond the video call window and into a standalone web interface. The release signals a broader ambition for the company, positioning Zoom as more than a video conferencing service, but as a full AI-powered workspace designed to support everyday work tasks before, during, and after meetings.
The new version of AI Companion builds on earlier tools that focused mainly on transcribing meetings and producing summaries. With AI Companion 3.0, Zoom is extending those capabilities into areas such as task creation, document drafting, and workflow support, aiming to reduce the manual work users typically do during meetings.
From meeting assistant to everyday work tool
Zoom’s earlier AI features were primarily tied to live calls, offering automated notes, highlights and summaries once a meeting had finished. AI Companion 3.0 shifts that approach by allowing users to interact with the assistant through a dedicated web interface, even when they are not in a meeting. This change makes the AI a more constant presence in a user’s working day rather than a tool that appears only during calls.
The assistant can now turn conversations into actionable tasks, helping users identify follow-ups and next steps without having to review transcripts themselves. It can also generate daily reflection reports that summarise key discussions and decisions from meetings held throughout the day. These reports are designed to give users a quick overview of what happened and what needs attention, saving time that would otherwise be spent reviewing notes or emails.
In addition, AI Companion 3.0 can draft follow-up emails based on meeting content. Instead of manually writing messages to participants or stakeholders, users can ask the AI to generate a draft that reflects the discussion and agreed-upon points. The assistant can also create documents using information from meetings or notes, supporting tasks such as writing reports, drafting planning documents, or creating internal updates.
These features aim to address a common problem for people who spend much of their day in meetings. While video calls make collaboration easier, they often create additional work afterwards, including writing summaries, updating documents and managing to-do lists. Zoom is positioning AI Companion 3.0 as a way to reduce that burden by automating routine tasks.
Pricing, access and platform strategy
Zoom is making AI Companion 3.0 available to both free and paid users, though access varies by plan. Free users can use the new AI features for up to three meetings each month. This includes AI note-taking, in-meeting questions, meeting summaries and up to 20 questions through the side panel interface.
For users who want full access, Zoom is offering the complete AI Companion feature set for US$10 per month. This fee is charged in addition to the cost of a Zoom Workplace subscription. By separating the AI features into an add-on, Zoom is giving customers the option to pay only if they see value in the expanded automation tools.
The pricing reflects a wider trend across the technology industry, where AI features are increasingly offered as premium additions rather than being included by default. For Zoom, this approach allows the company to test demand while also creating a new revenue stream tied directly to AI usage.
Strategically, the launch represents a shift in how Zoom defines its core product. The company is no longer focusing solely on video calls but is instead promoting an integrated environment where meetings, chats, documents and tasks are connected through AI. This move brings Zoom closer to productivity platforms that combine communication with workflow tools.
A hybrid AI model and future integrations
One notable aspect of AI Companion 3.0 is the technology that powers it. Zoom is taking a federated AI model approach, combining its own AI systems with models from external providers. These include widely used technologies from OpenAI, Anthropic and other open-source projects. By blending multiple models, Zoom aims to select the most suitable AI for different tasks while maintaining control over how data is handled.
This approach allows the company to adapt more quickly as AI technology evolves. Instead of relying on a single model, Zoom can integrate new capabilities as they become available, potentially improving accuracy and performance over time. It also gives the platform flexibility in balancing cost, speed, and quality across different features.
Zoom has indicated that AI Companion’s capabilities will expand further through deeper integrations with other services. In the near future, the company plans to connect the assistant with email platforms such as Gmail and Outlook. These connectors would allow the AI to support personal workflows more effectively, for example, by drafting emails directly, tracking follow-ups or pulling information from messages into documents.
Such integrations could make AI Companion more central to daily work, particularly for users who constantly move between meetings, emails, documents, and task lists. Instead of switching between multiple apps, users could rely on the AI to manage information across services, reducing context switching and manual content copying.
Over time, this development could change how teams use Zoom. Rather than seeing it as a place to host calls, organisations may treat it as a workspace where discussions are automatically transformed into structured outputs. Meetings could become starting points for documents, tasks and decisions, with the AI handling much of the administrative work that follows.
While it remains to be seen how widely these features will be adopted, AI Companion 3.0 reflects Zoom’s response to growing competition in the collaboration space. As more platforms introduce AI-driven productivity tools, Zoom is betting that a tightly integrated assistant, available both inside and outside meetings, will help it stay relevant to modern work habits.
