In today’s workplace, artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly becoming a trusted teammate. Major platforms like Zoom have introduced AI-driven features – from live meeting summaries to chat assistants – all designed to help employees work smarter. But a critical question for any organization is: are your employees actually using these Zoom AI features? And if not, why not?
Understanding Zoom AI usage isn’t just trivia; it’s key to unlocking productivity gains, ensuring data security, and getting the most value from your tech investments.
In this comprehensive guide, we break down how to determine if your workforce is leveraging Zoom’s AI, why it matters for organizational success, and how to foster effective, responsible adoption.
You might be thinking, “If the AI features are there, surely people will use them.” However, adoption of new tools is never automatic. Employees might stick to old habits, or they may not realize what the AI can do. That’s why it’s crucial to assess whether Zoom’s AI is being utilized – and to understand the impact either way.
Understanding Zoom AI usage ties directly into measuring return on investment (ROI) for your tech tools. If your company pays for Zoom, you’ll want to ensure you’re getting value from all its features.
If only 10% of your staff who attend meetings are using the auto-summary feature, that hints at either a lack of awareness or a problem with the feature’s usability. Conversely, if 90% of eligible meetings are using AI summaries, that’s a strong validation that the tool is delivering value.
These insights can guide decision-making: maybe you need to promote the features more, invest in training, or collect feedback on what employees need.
Even if you’re convinced of AI’s benefits, you might discover a gap between availability and usage. It’s not uncommon to hear leaders say, “We turned on the new tool, but I’m not sure people are actually using it.” So how can you know if your employees are using Zoom’s AI Companion features?
The good news is that Zoom has introduced tools to help with this. In early 2024, Zoom rolled out a new AI Companion analytics dashboard for account administrators. This dashboard provides visibility into key metrics around AI feature usage. For example, you can see:
Essentially, it shows which AI capabilities are being used, and how often.
This kind of insight helps organizations track adoption trends and identify where additional support may be needed.
Another angle to consider is whether employees might be using AI tools outside of Zoom. If you find little usage of Zoom’s built-in AI, it doesn’t necessarily mean your folks aren’t using AI at all. They could be turning to external, unsanctioned tools like free chatbots or third-party apps – what’s sometimes called “shadow AI.”
Shadow AI refers to employees adopting AI tools on their own, without IT’s approval or oversight.
For example, an employee might upload a meeting recording to some online transcription service, or use an online AI writer to draft an email, if they either don’t know Zoom can do it or find Zoom’s solution lacking.
Data dashboards are fantastic, but don’t overlook simply asking your employees about their AI usage. Send out a quick poll or include a question in your next employee engagement survey: “Have you used Zoom’s AI features in the past month?” and “If not, what are the reasons?” Zoom actually provides ready-made survey templates in its AI Companion Onboarding Center to help admins gauge how people feel about the new AI tools.
Collecting this feedback can give you qualitative context. Perhaps some employees tried the AI summary once but found it inaccurate, or they’re unsure if they have permission to use it. Others might not even know these features exist. Understanding the why behind the numbers is crucial to formulating a response.
Worklytics provides that view through an AI Adoption Dashboard that brings together usage data from Zoom, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Slack, and more. Instead of juggling separate reports, you see a privacy-safe, unified picture of where AI is helping work happen and where it is not. For example, you might find that Engineering uses GitHub Copilot and Zoom meeting summaries heavily, while HR prefers AI text assistance. With one dashboard, those patterns are easy to spot and easy to act on.
Break down AI adoption by department, job function, and location. If Sales shows low usage of Zoom summaries while Product Design is all-in, you can tailor enablement to each group’s workflows.
Identify power users who can mentor peers and highlight teams that need help. If Customer Support is hesitant to enable AI in external calls, you can address policy or training concerns directly.
Monitor month‑over‑month adoption, see the impact of a training session, or check whether a new Zoom release moved the needle. Set targets and watch progress as habits form.
Compare adoption against internal targets or anonymized industry benchmarks. Correlate usage with outcomes such as response times or project throughput to make a clear case for ROI.
Treat AI adoption like any other operational program. Review the dashboard in leadership meetings, adjust enablement plans, and measure the effect. When Zoom ships a new AI feature, you will know quickly if it is landing.
Zoom’s admin analytics give you a solid view of how Zoom AI Companion is being used, but most organizations rely on a mix of tools. Your employees may also be using Microsoft 365 Copilot, Slack GPT, Google Duet AI, GitHub Copilot, and others. To understand adoption across the entire stack, you need a single place that aggregates usage signals and turns them into action.
Worklytics focuses on usage metrics, not content. Data is pseudonymized and anonymized, so you get counts and trends like “Team A generated 30 Zoom AI meeting summaries last month” without exposing transcripts, chat text, or call recordings. This helps teams feel safe adopting AI while giving leaders the visibility they need to support adoption responsibly.
Use Zoom’s native AI Companion analytics to verify feature-level usage inside Zoom and to manage enablement for meeting summaries, chat compose, and transcription. Use Worklytics to put that Zoom view in context with every other AI surface your people touch.
Together, you get a complete picture that reduces shadow AI, targets training where it matters, and documents the return on your AI investments.
If your goal is to move from “we think employees are using AI” to “we know who is using what, where, and why,” pairing Zoom’s admin insights with the Worklytics AI Adoption Dashboard gives you the clarity to act.
So, you’ve checked the analytics and gathered feedback, and you’ve identified gaps in Zoom AI usage. How do you proactively boost adoption? Here are a few strategies:
Leaders and managers should visibly use Zoom AI features in their own meetings and workflows. If a department head always shares the AI-generated summary after meetings, it normalizes the practice. When others see it in action from the top, they’ll be more inclined to try it. You can even showcase usage stats in leadership meetings (“Last month, our sales team generated 50 AI meeting summaries – saving roughly 50 hours of note-taking!”) to build positive reinforcement.
Take advantage of Zoom’s AI Companion Onboarding Center materials. Host short training sessions or lunch-and-learns on “Getting the most out of Zoom AI.” In these sessions, demo how to enable and use each feature. Also consider creating a simple internal FAQ or tip sheet.
Work with your IT and HR teams to establish clear guidelines for AI usage. Employees should know what’s allowed and what’s not. Having an official policy can actually encourage use by removing ambiguity. Also emphasize the privacy safeguards in place – remind everyone that Zoom’s AI is approved and secure, and that it respects privacy (with no data being used to train models). When people know that the organization endorses the tool and has vetted it, they’ll feel safer embracing it.
Use your analytics (or even anecdotal observation) to spot who your power users of Zoom AI are. Perhaps someone in marketing is using the AI compose to draft messages daily, or a project manager always generates meeting summaries. Recognize and leverage these champions. You might ask them to share their experience at the next all-hands meeting or in an internal blog post: “How I saved 5 hours last month with Zoom AI – and you can too.” Peer advocacy can be very convincing. Additionally, champions can help colleagues one-on-one: for instance, an “AI savvy” person can sit with a less confident team member to walk them through using the tool the first time.
Continue to track the usage metrics over time. Set a realistic goal, like “By Q4, we want 50% of meetings to have an AI summary attached,” and monitor the trend. When milestones are reached or when you hear a success story (e.g., “AI chat compose helped us resolve a customer query faster”), celebrate it. Share these wins with the whole organization. It reinforces the value of using Zoom AI and builds momentum. People love to hear how new tools are actually making work better – it inspires them to try it themselves.
By implementing these steps, you create a supportive environment for AI adoption. Remember, the aim isn’t to force anyone to use AI, but to enable them to use it comfortably and beneficially. With time and the right encouragement, using Zoom’s AI can become as routine as screen-sharing or sending a Zoom Chat message.
