Use Zoom's AI to Automatically Summarize Your Meetings

What This Does

Zoom AI Companion records and transcribes your meetings, then automatically generates a summary with key topics, decisions made, and action items, so you can be fully present in the meeting instead of taking notes.

Before You Start

• You have a Zoom account (paid plan required; Basic free accounts don't include AI Companion)
• You're the meeting host, or the host has enabled AI Companion for all participants
• Participants should be informed that AI recording/transcription is active
• Time needed: 10 minutes to enable; zero extra time per meeting after that
• Cost: Included in Zoom Pro, Business, and higher plans (no extra charge)

Steps

1. Enable AI Companion in your settings

Go to zoom.us > Sign In > Settings. Click the AI Companion tab on the left sidebar. Toggle on:

• Meeting Summary with AI Companion: generates post-meeting summary
• Meeting Questions: lets participants ask AI questions about meeting content during the call
• Smart Recording: if you record meetings, adds chapters and highlights

What you should see: The toggles turn blue when enabled. You may need admin approval if your organization manages Zoom centrally. Troubleshooting: If you don't see AI Companion settings, your Zoom plan may not include it. Check your plan at zoom.us/pricing.

2. Start AI Summary during your next meeting

During a meeting you're hosting, click the AI Companion button in the meeting toolbar (looks like a sparkle icon). Click Start Summary. A notification will appear to all participants that AI summary is active.

What you should see: A small indicator shows AI Companion is running. Participants see a brief notification.

3. Access your summary after the meeting

Within a few minutes of ending the meeting, Zoom emails you the AI-generated summary. You can also find it in the Zoom web portal under Meetings > Previous Meetings > [meeting name] > AI Summary.

The summary includes:

• Overview: 2-3 sentence meeting recap
• Key Topics: main topics discussed with timestamps
• Action Items: tasks with the person who committed to them
• Next Steps: follow-up items

4. Edit and distribute

Copy the action items into your meeting minutes document. The summary is a starting point. Review it for accuracy and add any items Zoom missed. For OAC meetings, paste the action items into your standard minutes format and distribute.

Real Example

Scenario: You host a 90-minute OAC meeting with the owner, architect, and 6 subcontractors. Normally you'd spend 45 minutes writing minutes afterward.

What you do: Start AI Companion at the beginning of the meeting. Run the meeting normally.

What you get: An email within 10 minutes of hanging up with a summary listing all decisions (owner approved the mechanical equipment substitution, masonry subcontractor given 2-week extension on Level 3) and action items with names (PM to issue Change Order 14 by Friday, Architect to respond to RFI #47 within 7 days).

Tips

• For OAC meetings, always tell participants at the start: "I'm using Zoom AI Companion to help with meeting notes. You'll receive the summary after the meeting."
• Edit the AI summary before distributing. It occasionally misattributes action items when multiple people speak quickly.
• Keep the AI summary in your project records alongside formal meeting minutes. It creates a good secondary documentation trail.

Tool interfaces change. If AI Companion has moved, look for sparkle icons or the AI settings in your Zoom account settings panel.