Artificial intelligence (AI) isn’t limited to the computer brains of the latest robots. It’s likely in your cell phone, your car, and almost everywhere you go. One place AI is truly making an impact is the meeting room. AI video conferencing cameras and speakerphones are revolutionizing conference meetings by making them more efficient, more engaging, and safer.

1. AI Efficiency

AI is making video conferences more efficient with features like automatic field of view (FOV) framing. Auto framing makes starting a meeting easier than ever. Instead of manually (and, let’s be honest, clumsily) panning, tilting, and zooming to fit everyone onscreen, all you have to do is press a button and let facial recognition AI set the perfect FOV. The camera can even adjust automatically when someone comes in during the meeting, reducing time-sucking interruptions.

2. AI Engagement

Engagement is a term you probably associate more with classrooms, but it’s important for business meetings too. Functions spawned from facial and voice recognition are especially useful for better engaging meeting participants, which leads to greater employee buy-in, higher morale, and more:

• Voice recognition AI enables speaker tracking, which lets the camera switch back and forth between speakers automatically. This is perfect for keeping remote-side participants engaged in discussions.
• Some of the latest conferencing cameras use facial recognition to track presenters through preset zones. Again, viewers will feel like they’re in the room, fully participating in brainstorming sessions.

It’s also worth mentioning that the efficiency you get from using AI in meetings also ups engagement by reducing dead time and distractions.

3. AI Safety

All the above AI features are incredibly useful, but what if you need to mask up and social distance during your meetings? Do the AI features go out the window because everyone is too far from the camera and masks confuse facial recognition algorithms?

Nope, not anymore.

One of the most recent innovations is AI that recognizes faces obscured by masks and accurately tracks and frames from several meters away. Also, functions like voice tracking remove the need for MIS staff to operate the camera with a remote control during a meeting. That minimizes the amount of device touching required to run a meeting and reduces the chances of germs spreading through the office.