Zoom AI Companion is not available to holders of PHIPA Zoom accounts.
Meeting hosts are responsible for ensuring that sensitive or protected information is not shared with AI Companion. Always follow York University's AI policies to ensure that personal, confidential, or regulated material is not shared with GenAI tools: When in doubt, it's best to leave the AI Companion turned off for that meeting.
Zoom’s AI Companion offers AI-driven tools that enhance meeting efficiency by generating automated meeting summaries and cloud recording highlights. If enabled by the host, you can also interact with AI Companion through a chat-like feature, asking it to summarize what was said so far or what topics were addressed.
Similar to recorded Zoom at York meetings, a pop-up notification will appear if the host has enabled AI Companion. The AI Companion will analyze any and all information coming through the speaker - even audible podcasts, streaming, or other people talking - and attribute it to the speaker directly. It is therefore advisable to use a headset or transmit from a quiet, distraction-free location.
Best practices for AI Companion:
- Disable the AI companion if someone is not comfortable with it being on.
- When you present the meeting, avoid jumping from topic to topic - This will keep the AI Companion on track.
- AI can make mistakes - prior to releasing any summary notes, it is strongly advised that the host evaluate the provided AI summary.
- By default, only the host gets the Summary notes, this can be changed in your settings.
We have made the following AI generated services available for meeting hosts to enable in their Zoom settings:
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Meeting Summaries – When enabled by the meeting host, AI Companion can automatically generate a written summary at the end of a Zoom meeting and send it to selected participants, according to the settings configured in Zoom. By default, only the meeting host receives this summary, which highlights key discussion points, action items, and decisions made. The summary is organized clearly and concisely, making it easy for participants to review important information without rewatching the entire meeting. Meeting Summaries are only stored for 90 days.
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In-Meeting Questions – When enabled by the meeting host, this feature allows participants to interact privately with AI Companion during a Zoom meeting. Users can ask questions such as "What’s been discussed so far?" or "Was my name mentioned?"—all without notifying the host or other participants. This is especially useful if you joined late, missed part of the conversation, or simply want to clarify a point without interrupting the flow of the meeting. This helps users stay informed and engaged without needing to take extensive notes.
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Smart Recording – When enabled by the meeting host, Zoom Smart Recording enhances standard meeting recordings by automatically generating structured, AI-powered content. This includes smart chapters, highlights, transcriptions, meeting summaries, action items, and optional meeting coach insights. These features help hosts review, share, and act on meeting content more efficiently and effectively.
Enabling Zoom's AI Companion Meeting Summary
- Log into https://yorku.zoom.us/
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Click on Settings (1) in the left-hand navigation menu.
- Click on the AI Companion tab (2) and enable Meeting summary with AI Companion:
- You may also select options to turn on the meeting summary when the meeting starts, and the sending (or not) of the summary text in the email:
- If you wish to share the summary with meeting invitees, they must specifically be invited during the scheduling phase of the meeting setup. If participants join via sharing of the meeting link, they will not be included in the emailed summary.
Enabling AI Companion In-Meeting Questions
Don't worry…
- Conversations with the AI Companion are only visible to the user initiating the conversation; They will not appear in the summary.
- Conversations with the AI cannot be saved.
- Breakout rooms do not support the summary - what's said in the breakout room stays in the breakout room.
- Ask AI Companion questions, but provide it with context - The more precise your prompt, the more accurate the output will be.
- Log into https://yorku.zoom.us/
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Click on Settings (1) in the left-hand navigation menu.
- Click on the AI Companion tab (2) and enable Allow users to ask AI Companion questions about the meeting:
- You may decide who has this functionality enabled, as well as from what point they would have access to summaries. Unlike Meeting summary with AI Companion, users do not need to be explicitly added to the attendee list in order to enable this functionality.
- You can access the functionality by clicking on the AI Companion logo in the chat and interacting with it via the predetermined buttons OR directly entering the query into a chat window:
6. You may stop the AI Companion by pressing the red Stop button at the top of the AI Companion function, and then confirm:
Enabling Smart Recording
- Log into https://yorku.zoom.us/
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Click on Settings (1) in the left-hand navigation menu.
- Scroll down to Smart recording with AI Companion and enable it, and any optional components described below:
- Recording Highlights - automatically identifies and extracts the most important parts of the meeting, such as key discussions or decisions. These highlights let you quickly review the most relevant moments without watching the entire recording.
- Summary and Smart Chapters - A brief, AI-generated overview of the meeting, outlining the main topics and outcomes.The recording is divided into labeled sections (chapters) based on the topics discussed. This makes it easy to skip to specific parts of the meeting.
- Next steps - AI Companion detects action items or decisions made during the meeting and generates a list of follow-up tasks or assigned responsibilities, helping teams stay on track.
- Meeting coach - Provides feedback on your speaking habits—like how much time you spoke, filler word usage, or whether you interrupted others. This is meant to improve your communication and presentation skills over time.
4. You may stop the AI Companion by pressing Stop AI Companion at the top of the AI Companion function, and then Stop:
Companion AI - FAQ