A new phase of artificial intelligence has begun. AI is no longer used only to provide answers or generate content. It’s increasingly being directed toward helping people finish their work and produce real, concrete actions.
That’s the view of Carlos Quaderi, Head of Asia Pacific at Zoom, speaking in an interview in Jakarta on Thursday, October 8, 2026. According to him, this shift means Zoom no longer sees its product as simply a meeting platform, but as a “system of action” that helps get work done.
“This isn’t about meetings anymore. It’s about helping customers move through collaboration, customer experience, and productivity within one intelligent platform,” Carlos said.
Conversations as the Fuel for AI
According to Carlos, conversations will become an important part of how AI works. Conversations in a meeting, for example, wouldn’t just be recorded or transcribed, but could serve as a source for AI to understand context and determine what work needs to be done.
“In the future, what I capture from a conversation will actually generate the whole job and complete the work based solely on that conversation,” he said.
Carlos noted that AI needs context to deliver more accurate results. Conversations provide real-time context, while company data supplies the historical information AI needs.
He gave an example of a company asking AI to build a plan based on the past year’s data. AI can certainly access that data, but without understanding the most recent meeting, it could lose context about decisions or discussions that just took place.
“By understanding what they’re talking about, I can now pull the data that’s relevant to that conversation. That’s what we mean by contextual awareness,” he explained.
From Output to Outcome
The next shift is a move from output toward outcome. AI isn’t expected to just produce documents, summaries, or presentation materials, but to help complete the work that emerges from conversations.
“In the future, it’s no longer about output. It will be about outcome,” Carlos said.
An Open Ecosystem Approach
To make that happen, AI needs to connect with the many systems companies already use. Carlos said Zoom is developing an open ecosystem approach so its AI can work with applications such as Salesforce, Microsoft, Google, ServiceNow, and Workday.
“We’re not saying, ‘Choose and use our technology.’ Instead, we’re saying our AI can integrate with all of those,” he said.
According to Carlos, this approach is also intended to address a problem that has emerged after years of corporate digital transformation. The sheer number of apps and tools has actually made work more complex, since employees have to jump from one application to another.
“We want to simplify the environment, simplify the experience, and make the user experience better,” he said.
Humans Still Have a Role
Even as AI becomes capable of handling more tasks, Carlos believes humans won’t lose their role. Human qualities like empathy, interaction, experience, and judgment will still be needed.
“AI can mimic tasks, but AI doesn’t have consciousness,” he stressed.
Zoom’s pitch reflects a broader industry push to make AI an active participant in work rather than a passive assistant. The idea that a meeting could automatically trigger follow-up tasks across tools like Salesforce or ServiceNow is appealing, but it also raises practical questions about oversight and accuracy.
For businesses considering this shift, the real test will be how much of that “outcome” work they’re comfortable letting AI carry out without a human checking it first.