Are Zoom avatars in the near future?

Avatars have become popular with social media users across various platforms such as Snapchat and TikTok to represent their social media profiles. Thanks to the introduction of the metaverse, they’re being used in more real-time scenarios to generate conversations and build relationships. 

In addition to its existence on various social outlets, another communication platform that could soon see the introduction of avatars is Zoom. This is according to recent interview with CEO, Eric Yuan, who spoke to The Verge Magazine. 

Mr Yuan says Zoom users will be able to send avatar versions of themselves to Zoom meetings in the next five to six years; freeing up time for users as a result and enabling them to do different things: “You and I can have more time to have more in-person interactions, but maybe not for work. Maybe for something else. Why do we need to work five days a week? Down the road, four days or three days. Why not spend more time with your family?"

Interestingly, Mr Yuan envisages a future where individuals could have a pesonalised large language model, which will be based on their unique speech and behavioural patterns. As a result of these LLM’s, the possibility of responsive avatars using this technology will increase. 

AI is creeping into the normality of day-to-day life, if it hasn’t already; with more AI’s being developed to pick up human behaviors and possibly represent. This could prove to be one of AI’s most exciting, yet worrying developments yet.