Artificial intelligence is here to save the day from boring Zoom calls. A new startup founded by David Shim, former CEO of Foursquare, is using the technology to let people know when their Zoom call is less than delightful.
Called Read AI, the tool uses AI to do just that: read the (virtual) room. Developed specifically as a tool for the Zoom platform, Read AI looks at the audio and video feed of a meeting and generates a real-time color code that indicates the current sentiment and engagement level — good, neutral or bad. The results can be seen by all participants, not just the one running the tool.
“As a result of the pandemic, people have been thrown in at the deep end when it comes to video conferencing. There hasn’t been the normal edification process, so people aren’t trained to understand how to read each other over video,” said Shim. “[Using Read AI] is like looking at your car dashboard to check your speed. It gives you that moment to ask yourself how the call is going and to respond accordingly.”
