All kinds of old & new video conferencing products are reportedly doing roaring business in these days of the COVID-19 pandemic. We’ve all read reports on the rising popularity of Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, & so on.
But here’s one artificial intelligence (AI) based video conferencing platform, “around”, that is poised to turn the entire concept on its head. As its chief executive Dominik Zane writes: …..video calls need to reflect this new way of working. That’s why we took video & made it less. Less traditional, less formal, less bulky, even less realistic.
This rather sophisticated piece of AI-assisted audio, video technology has been developed over 2 years, writes Dominik, & will “completely transform the possibilities & dynamics” of a video call. On that promise, perhaps, the startup has managed to raise $5.2 million in funding.
The CEO says around does not require any dedicated conference room equipment; its focused UX makes video calls fast & productive.
Right now, you need to apply to get early access to around. So what really makes this video platform different from the rest of the pack?
As it announces on its Website, around works on a unique audio technology, with a one-of-a-kind signal processing engine (patent pending) that allows multiple laptop microphones & speakers to stay enabled in the same room without echo or feedback.
On both, video & audio, around has some AI sophistication that perhaps other players lack. Take for example, the ultrasonic signaling, synchronization, latency correction, & voice proximity algorithms aided by AI that normalize microphone quality, measure a complex set of acoustic properties, & mark every audio frame with robust metadata to provide the best possible audio experience.
Then, there’s actually an AI-based auto-mute so no more hearing of dog barks in the background. Around, it seems, recognizes all common noises like sirens, barking dogs, washing machines, kitchen activity, laptop fans & applies AI-based filtering to suppress them while prioritizing human voice.
Everyone is seen and heard clearly. No one ever sounds “far from the microphone”. Everyone uses their own laptop to work in apps like Google Docs, Figma, or Miro. Everyone fits perfectly in their camera’s field of view, claim the makers of around.
What’s more, there’s no team setup required. Individuals & contributors can use around freely without getting the rest of the company onboard, & you can connect to anyone – co-worker, a vendor, or a partner, by just sharing a link.
Around can even be launched from Slack using the “/around” command or share a link to fire up a session when everyone is free.
This new video chat platform is designed for maximum privacy, claims Dominik. Around does not experiment with your existing social & privacy preferences. It fully respects your time & space. As part of this, there are no status indicators, no messages popping up, no permanent UI. The focus ins just on your video chat.
Around works in WIndows, Mac, as a Web app, & can accomodate upto 15 people per session.
Here’s the link.
Image credit: around
