Visual AI: A future-proof solution for better meetings today
The age of AI is an exciting one. Everyone is busy implementing new tools to improve security, reduce costs, increase productivity and more. It’s a technology gold rush. And the timing couldn’t be better, as organizations standardize on hybrid work models. AI is knocking on meeting room doors everywhere. It’s what we in the UCC industry call the perfect storm of AI and AV.
The truth is that hybrid work isn’t perfect. Remote workers face poor audio and video quality from their office counterparts.
We have learned the hard way how poor image clarity diminishes gestures, facial expressions and all other non-verbal cues during a meeting. Not surprisingly, this has a negative impact on productivity.
How can AI in AV help bridge the gap between remote workers and meeting room participants?
Visual AI is the answer
Intelligent video systems provide an elegant solution that significantly improves the experience for remote viewers and in-room participants. They automatically deliver broadcast-quality video without the need to manually switch video or operate the camera. Intelligent video — powered by “Visual AI” — can capture all gestures, expressions and non-verbal cues of any active speaker, anywhere in the room.
Visual AI systems offer a number of experiences including group framing, presenter tracking, speaker tracking, and more.
Group framing
Karin M. Reed, CEO of Speaker Dynamics and co-author of the book “Suddenly Hybrid,” shared an experience on the Crestron blog which is probably familiar to many people:
“I was running a meeting from a conference room, but the only technology available was an extra laptop sitting on the table. There was no monitor for the people in the room to see the people online and vice versa. There was no way for them to communicate.”
“While meeting room attendees can usually see the faces of their external conversation partners well, Sometimes it is difficult for virtual participants to see the faces of the participants in the room, especially if the room is largeshe notes.
Group frameworks overcome many of these problems because everyone stays within the framework. This feature ensures that everyone remains in view, regardless of whether people enter, leave or move through the room.
Follow presenter
Crestron’s Rony Sebok, Director of Product Management — Intelligent Video, created the first presenter tracking solutions to record lectures at colleges and universities. The goal was to keep a lecturer in the frame of a video recording — no matter where the presenter moved onstage.
Now this technology is even more powerful. Presenter tracking detects when people enter a presentation space, images them, and tracks them in real time. It is ideal for spaces with presentation areas, such as lecture halls, training venues, large conference rooms, etc.
Speaker Tracking
This experience changes the picture as the conversation moves from one person to the next. Multi-Camera Speaker Tracking Solutions are better than single-camera options in this case, as the primary and secondary cameras allow for a clear view between speakers.
A future-proof solution
Visual AI-powered intelligent video systems are not only a low-risk option for increasing productivity, they also provide a great foundation for your future AI technology stack. So you can run better meetings today while assuring stakeholders that you’re preparing for the future.