- Virtual smells, the feeling of a handshake, and AI translators could soon be a part of video calls.
- Tech experts weigh the consequences and likelihood of replacing in-person meetings.
- They suggest that while VR and AI may seem niche, they have plenty of potential to become mainstream.
As you settle in for your next meeting, you reach out to shake the hand of the person sitting across from you. The room fills with the scent of freshly-brewed coffee, and when your colleague speaks in a different language, you find that you can understand them.
But it’s not that you’ve been brushing up on your multilingualism during lockdown, and you’re certainly not congregating in a local café or even a conference room. This meeting is taking place in your own home, and the other attendees could be hundreds of miles away.
This vision of the future was one set out by Zoom founder Eric Yuan at a recent Web Summit conference late last year. In an interview with Insider’s co-editor-in-chief Alyson Shontell, Yuan outlined how he envisioned the video platform growing.
