Video conferencing platform Webex by Cisco is introducing machine learning and generative AI functions meant to improve collaboration at a distance and CRM through enhanced video experiences and ChatGPT-like natural language interfaces.
Cisco is introducing a suite of generative artificial intelligence-driven features in its Webex video conferencing platform, from meeting summaries to visual enhancements. These features are aimed at both customer communications and hybrid working end users.
The company joins enterprises like Microsoft, Salesforce, Adobe and Google in adding generative AI capabilities to its service. The new upgrades to Webex include AI-powered audio, video, natural language understanding and analytics enhancements.
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According to customer relationship management data company Datanyze, Zoom is the market leader in video conferencing, with 72.61% market share and more than 176,757 companies using it. It reports that Cisco Webex is a distant second with 8.6% with more than 20,935 companies using Webex.
After Webex, according to Datanyze, are GoToWebinar with 7% of the global market share, On24, Adobe Connect, Livestorm, GoToMeeting and Google Hangouts.
Javed Khan, senior vice president and general manager of collaboration at Cisco, said the company has been advancing its use of machine learning systems for at least three years.
“Cisco has been investing in this for 10 or 15 [years], starting with basic things like noise cancellation and with some of our video conferencing technologies that have the ability to detect faces and zoom in and out,” Khan said. “So, we have been working on this for a while.
“What’s happened in the last couple of years is that the underlying technologies reached a point where the level of processing in real time and the amount of training data available has just grown exponentially. So these technologies, I think, have gotten 100 times better, which is allowing for things that weren’t possible before.”
Khan said that in the last three years Cisco spent about $1.5 billion acquiring several companies including Voicea and BabbleLabs for voice enhancing technologies as well as MindMeld, a natural language-processing company.
Cisco said the integration of AI has allowed the company to make several text and image enhancements that include image optimizing, 3D effects and natural-language queries.
The upgrades to Webex add a cinematic quality to user video using its RoomOS conference video system, which optimizes video by automatically switching between cameras, for example, if a user is employing more than one.
The company said the feature also allows IT administrators to create virtual spaces, or meeting zones, that automatically exclude distracting objects or people.
The cinematic feature includes the ability to capture the speaker at their best angle by automatically switching views.
The AI baked into Webex also lets users choose to do complex visual optimizing effects, such as adding depth and sharpness to one’s appearance and making low-resolution video high definition (Figure A).
Figure A
Further, the AI recognizes human gestures and can add on-screen emojis corresponding to them, including gestures like hands raised for celebration, pressed together for thanks and request, and a heart for affection. It also adds animated features like confetti, fireflies and universe effects (Figure B).
Figure B
And if a speaker leaves the camera view zone without departing the meeting, the AI can recognize this and display a “be right back” icon (Figure C).
Figure C
The message recommendations feature uses AI to prioritize chat and space messages based on interactions with team members and other people users engage with most. Space recommendations suggest relevant Webex spaces to join based on similar people and engagements.
Cisco said its use of large language models in Webex customer experience made it possible to deploy in its Webex Contact Center automated, AI-fueled features like:
The company said it is also adding generative AI capabilities to Webex Campaign, part of Webex’s communications platform-as-a-service solutions portfolio. These functions include:
Khan said Webex AI capabilities will roll out over the course of 2023, with some available now.
Karl is a lead writer on cloud security for TechRepublic, specializing in enterprise security risks, strategies, products, threats, trends and technologies for securing organizations. After graduating from Florida State University, he worked for the Tampa Tribune, and radio and TV stations in Tallahassee before moving to Boulder, Colorado. After receiving an MFA in dramatic writing from Brooklyn College he became a journalist and wrote for several years for publications covering the automotive, industrial chemical, internet tech and consumer marketing verticals. He has written for Adweek, Brandweek, The Chemical Market Reporter and MediaPost, and was also the public affairs officer at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering for six years prior to coming to TA.
