Zoom founder and CEO Eric Yuan believes AI assistants can ultimately shorten the work week. On stage at the TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 conference on Monday, Yuan spoke about the adoption of AI in his company’s video conferencing products. This includes a “digital twin” feature where an AI avatar speaks on your behalf.
Yuan started using AI avatars during earnings calls with investors this year, saying it demonstrated the technology’s potential and ability to push the “boundaries of communication.”
Disrupt executives emphasized spending a lot of time thinking about AI and the right products to bring to market.
When I asked him what he was investing in, he said, “AI, AI, AI.” At Zoom, we believe in the power of technology to transform work, so much so that it’s the subject of hours-long strategy sessions.
Yuan also suggested that AI companions have many use cases beyond just standing in for video conferencing. He proposed a future scenario in which two executives are negotiating a contract via Zoom.
Instead of having long phone calls, Yuan said they can first send a digital twin and work on a plan together.
We also talked about how AI can help with email, checking your messages and helping you decide what’s important and needs a reply.
Additionally, Yuan believes AI has the potential to enhance Zoom’s broader suite of solutions, including online whiteboarding, collaborative documents, and more.
“Currently, we have to manually focus on all these products to get our jobs done. Eventually, AI will help,” Yuan said.
“Then you don’t have to work five days a week anymore, right? … In five years, it’s three or four days (a week). That’s the goal,” he said.
