Zoom AI Companion for interviews: meeting summaries, My Notes and ZoomMate after the rename

Zoom's AI features can summarize and transcribe a job interview without a third-party bot, but the product you are looking for is no longer called AI Companion. In June 2026 Zoom retired that name: meeting summaries and transcription now sit inside paid Zoom Workplace plans at no additional cost, My Notes can transcribe interviews on Zoom, Teams, Google Meet or in person without a bot, and ZoomMate is a separate paid add-on. For most interviewers, a meeting summary or My Notes is enough; neither scores a candidate against your criteria.

If you only want to record a Zoom interview, how to record a Zoom interview without a bot covers local and cloud recording and the consent prompt. This page is about Zoom's AI features in interviews: which to use, what the candidate sees, what to switch off, and how to turn a summary into a fair evaluation.

What changed with the AI Companion name

From Zoom's own pages, as of September 2026:

• The rename. Zoom's blog post of June 24, 2026 says AI Companion's features are now built into Zoom Workplace under functional names, including meeting summaries, chat compose, transcription, call summaries and voicemail prioritization. "Same features, same experience."
• What is included. The same post says eligible paid Zoom Workplace plans continue to include core AI features at no additional cost.
• ZoomMate. The launch release describes an agentic add-on from $20 per user per month with included AI credits, generally available from June 1, 2026 for online and direct customers in North America, rolling out gradually, with EMEA and APAC expected later.

In practice, if a colleague says "turn on AI Companion" for an interview, they mean meeting summary. Your admin settings may still use older labels for a while.

The three Zoom AI options for an interview

Sources, as of September 2026: Using Meeting Summary with AI, Using My Notes and Zoom's AI note-taking page.

Meeting summary

Zoom support says the summary works from the meeting's speech-to-text data and does not require a recording. It is sent by email and, if enabled, Zoom Chat, and only the host can edit it. In a multilingual meeting it is written in the language most participants used, or the host's language if there is no majority. Because only the host or co-host can start it, it suits interviews you schedule yourself.

My Notes

My Notes is the more flexible option for interviewers. For meetings outside Zoom, the support article says transcription uses the system and microphone audio on your device, so muting in the other app does not stop it; use My Notes' own pause. It needs the Zoom Workplace desktop app (version 6.7.5 or later, macOS 14.2+ or a supported Windows build), does not work in the web client or Zoom Rooms, and on mobile supports in-person conversations only. The article also says you must follow applicable laws, which may include giving notice.

ZoomMate

ZoomMate is aimed at acting on conversations: searching across meetings and apps, updating other systems, and producing documents. None of that is necessary to summarize an interview, and a tool that updates systems from an interview needs the same checks as any AI in hiring. Consider it only if your company adopts it for other work.

Which option for which interview

• A Zoom interview you host: meeting summary. Candidates see the AI indicator, which supports your spoken notice.
• A Zoom interview a client or hiring manager hosts: ask the host to start the summary, or use My Notes on your own device with the host's agreement and a notice to the candidate.
• A Teams or Google Meet interview: My Notes from the desktop app. Nothing appears in the call, so the notice is yours to give.
• An in-person interview: My Notes on desktop or mobile, with a spoken notice at the start.
• A phone screen on Zoom Phone: My Notes is not designed for Zoom Phone per its support article; check the call summary features on your Zoom Phone plan instead.

An example week (invented)

Priya, an invented in-house recruiter at a company on Zoom Workplace Business, runs eight screens and sits in on three hiring manager interviews in one week. Her five Zoom screens use meeting summary, which she starts as host after reading her notice line. Two candidates ask to use Google Meet and send her a link; she uses My Notes from the desktop app and says her notice at the start because nothing appears in their meeting. One candidate asks her not to transcribe, so she pauses My Notes and types. The three hiring manager interviews are hosted by the managers, so she asks each to start the summary as host rather than running My Notes on her own laptop as well, which would create a second transcript of the same call. At the end of the week she has one record per interview, each with a notice she can point to.

Settings to review with your Zoom admin

1. Summary recipients. Check whether summaries go only to the host or to all participants. An interview summary containing another interviewer's impressions should not land in a candidate's inbox.
2. Automatic start. If summaries start automatically for all meetings, interviews are included. Decide if that is what you want.
3. Chat sharing. If summaries post to Zoom Chat, check which channel. Interview content belongs with the hiring team only.
4. My Notes enablement. It needs Zoom Hub, My Notes, transcription and AI enrichment settings on, plus microphone and system audio permissions.
5. Retention. Zoom's My Notes article says deleting a note deletes its transcript. Set a routine for deleting interview notes after the hiring decision, in line with your records policy.
6. Consent prompt. If you also record, turn on Zoom's recording consent so candidates are asked; see our Zoom recording guide.

Notice text for the invite and the call

Invite: I use Zoom's AI note-taking to transcribe interviews so I can
listen rather than type. The notes are used only for this application.
If you would prefer I take notes by hand, reply here or tell me at the
start. It will not affect your application.

Start of call: Before we begin, I'm using Zoom's AI to take notes on
this conversation, used only for your application. Is that okay with
you? [If no: "No problem, I'll turn it off and take notes by hand."]

For all-party consent states and calls across state lines, use the stricter version in our interview recording consent script.

From Zoom summary to a fair evaluation

A meeting summary is written for meetings: topics, decisions, next steps. An interview needs evidence against criteria. Use this checklist before a summary goes anywhere near a hiring decision.

The evidence-based feedback guide shows how to write each line, and the scorecard template gives you the form.

Where Zoom's AI stops for recruiting

• No interview kit. Nothing we found on Zoom's pages builds questions from a job description or tracks which must-ask questions were covered.
• No scorecard tied to criteria or evidence checking.
• No ATS write-back for meeting summaries described on the pages we checked. ZoomMate's orchestration mentions updating other systems; ask Zoom which, if any, recruiting systems it supports.
• Host dependency for meeting summary, which matters for agency recruiters on client-hosted calls.

Who Zoom's built-in AI suits

Use it if your company already pays for Zoom Workplace, you host most interviews, and you want a summary or transcript with no extra vendor, contract or data processing review. My Notes makes it a reasonable bot-free option on Teams and Meet as well. Look at a recruiting tool if you need structure during the interview, scorecards with evidence, submittals or ATS notes. Interview Signal is one such tool: a desktop app with no bot that runs a question guide from the job description and scores with quotes checked against the transcript. Other options are compared in interview intelligence software.