Zoom says it's no longer a video company. What that means for your meetings

Zoom, the video communication service whose star rose during the COVID-19 pandemic, is getting out of the video call game — well, sort of.

In an announcement on Monday, the company said that, while people might not realize it, its official name is “Zoom Video Communications Inc.” because that’s where its focus lies. And while that’s still a priority, Zoom says, the future is about “so much more than video meetings.” 

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As a result, video is out, and the company is now just “Zoom Communications.” Here’s what that might mean for you.

Like every other company, Zoom says a serious injection of artificial intelligence (AI) is on the way. “What may have been a ‘nice-to-have’ is now a ‘must-have,'” the company explained, calling its Zoom AI Companion the “heartbeat” of its future. Right now, the feature can catch you up on meetings, compose messages, and more. 

In the future, Zoom hopes to continue developing new AI capabilities, perhaps even “a fully customizable digital twin” that knows exactly what you do and can free up your workday — to the point of allowing you to work just four days a week. If that sounds crazy, Zoom points out that the standard work week used to be 48 hours until Henry Ford revolutionized manufacturing. 

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Moving forward, Zoom seems to be focusing on your overall workday, not just your morning or afternoon video call. It already has Zoom Docs, which lets you work collaboratively on documents both in and out of meetings, and Team Chat, which lets you access a meeting chat, share a whiteboard, jump into a meeting, and more.

In short, your video calls aren’t going anywhere, and Zoom will continue to be what it’s been. Just expect to see more collaboration before and after the meeting ends, as well as AI all around to hopefully make your work life a little easier.