Zoom's AI-based close captioning will roll out to all users later this year

One of Zoom’s most useful features - automatic closed captioning during calls will roll out to all customers later this year, the company announced on Wednesday. The feature is currently available only to paid users.

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The company stated on its blog that it was working on the feature to allow better accessibility to users and that it already provided other features for free to all users - such as closed captioning and screen reader support, plus pinning or spotlighting interpreter video. Zoom also allows free users to manually add closed captions to a meeting.

However, adding captions manually can be quite a tedious task, and Zoom’s automated closed captioning is much faster and works with AI. The company says it is aware that there are users who would require automatic captions and added that it would allow the feature to free users, upon request.

“To help free account holders who require Live Transcription, starting today and up until the feature’s broader release, we will also be offering automatic closed captioning to meeting hosts who need accommodation upon request,” the company stated.

Users on Zoom’s free tier who want to make use of the feature have to fill in this form and the company will then send you a confirmation email. “Since we expect a high volume of requests, we appreciate your patience as we work to make automatic closed captioning available for all of our users,” the post states.

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Once you receive automatic closed captioning support you can head over to the up arrow on the closed captioning button in the meeting and then check your settings. The AI-based captioning should be enabled for all users “in the fall”, the company said on its blog.