How to Manage AI Companion During a Meeting

Hosts can manage AI Companion usage during a meeting. Use this guide to learn how to enable and disable AI Companion and manage requests

Note: AI Companion will follow the settings of the host’s Zoom account. Learn more about managing Zoom AI Companion settings. 

Requirements for using AI Companion

• Must be logged into your New School Zoom account.

• AI Companion enabled. Learn more about Zoom AI Companion settings.

• Zoom desktop app for Windows, macOS, or Linux: Global minimum version or higher.

• Zoom mobile app for Android or iOS: Global minimum version or higher.

Notes:

• While meeting hosts can start or stop AI Companion on all supported platforms, hosts and participants can currently only ask questions on the desktop app.

Limitations of AI Companion

• Only the meeting host can start or stop AI Companion through the in-meeting controls.

• Meeting hosts in Zoom Rooms can only start or stop AI Companion.

• This feature is not supported in Breakout Rooms.

• If you have set your pronouns in your Zoom profile, the AI Companion feature will use those pronouns when referring to you. If you do not set your pronouns or choose not to share them in the meeting, the pronouns chosen by the Large Language Model (LLM) will be used instead.

Start AI Companion as the host

When the meeting starts, the host can manually start AI Companion so that it is available to in-meeting participants. Meeting hosts can also configure AI Companion to be automatically available to meeting participants when meetings start in account settings.

1. Start a meeting as the host with the Zoom desktop app.

2. In the meeting control toolbar, click AI Companion.

   • The AI Companion panel will open in the meeting. A transcript of the meeting will begin to be generated for AI Companion to reference, and participants will see a notification informing them that AI Companion is active and a disclaimer (Note: the host will not see the disclaimer).

3. Click the settings icon at the top of the panel to change the settings for Meeting Questions and Meeting Summary.

   • By default, these settings are on by default. To disable them in a meeting, switch the settings to off.

     • Note: You can only turn on or off the setting. Hosts and participants cannot change the access settings of these tools. Learn more about Zoom AI Companion settings. 

Request AI Companion be Enabled During a Meeting

If the host does have AI Companion enabled for their meetings, any meeting participants can request that it be started for the current meeting.

• The host will receive an in-meeting request to start AI Companion for the current meeting.

If the host does not have AI Companion enabled, this feature will not be available. 

1. In the meeting control toolbar, click AI Companion.

   • If not currently enabled for the meeting, the participant will be prompted to request feature enablement.

2. Click Send Request.

   • The request will be sent to the host.

Stop AI Companion as the host

If the host wants to discuss topics without AI Companion running for in-meeting queries, they can disable AI Companion, so those topics will not be available for analysis and questions.

1. In the meeting control toolbar, click AI Companion.

   • The AI Companion panel will open on the right side of the meeting window.

2. In the top-left corner, click Stop AI Companion.

   • You will be prompted to confirm stopping AI Companion in the current meeting.

   • You also have the option to delete meeting assets that were generated with AI companion.

3. Click Stop to confirm.