How to Turn Off AI Companion in Zoom (Now Called Zoom AI)

To turn off AI Companion in a Zoom meeting, the host hovers over the Zoom AI icon at the top right and clicks "Stop Zoom AI". To stop it coming back, open the Zoom web portal, go to Settings > Zoom AI and switch off "Meeting summary with AI" and meeting questions, or clear their auto-start boxes.

In the meeting, only the host can do this (a co-host can also stop the summary). A participant can ask the host to stop it, and an account admin can switch the features off for everyone and lock them so nobody turns them back on.

Three AI features run inside a Zoom meeting. Each has its own switch, so turning one off leaves the others as they are.

Zoom My Notes is a different feature: a personal notetaker that a participant turns on for themselves, which the host sees as a My Notes icon next to their name.

1. Hover over the Zoom AI icon in the top-right corner of the meeting window. In app versions before 6.7.5, the AI controls are in the toolbar at the bottom.
2. To stop one feature, clear its box: "Meeting summary" or "Meeting questions". To stop every AI feature at once, click "Stop Zoom AI".
3. A confirmation window opens. If you also want to delete what was made so far, select "Delete meeting assets".
4. Click "Stop".

On a phone or tablet, tap the Zoom AI icon, switch off "Meeting summary" or tap "Stop Zoom AI", then confirm with "Stop".

Stopping is not deleting. Zoom still produces a summary of the part of the meeting while the feature was on. "Delete meeting assets" deletes the transcripts and summaries made so far, except transcripts that participants already completed with My Notes.

Smart recording only works on cloud recordings: once the recording and its audio transcript are processed, Zoom adds highlights, smart chapters and next steps, and people who watch the recording see the chapters and next steps. A meeting that is not recorded to the cloud gets none of it. Zoom also says that stopping transcription in a meeting stops meeting summary, in-meeting questions and smart recording together.

If the AI turns on by itself, auto-start is on, either in your own settings or set by an admin. Zoom says that with auto-start, the summary begins as soon as anyone starts the meeting, even without the host. Switch it off where it was switched on.

1. Sign in to the Zoom web portal, click your profile picture, then Settings.
2. Click Zoom AI in the side menu. Some Zoom help pages call it the AI Companion tab instead, so look for either name.
3. Under Meeting, switch off "Meeting summary with AI". To keep summaries you start yourself, leave it on and clear "Auto-start when meeting starts" instead.
4. Do the same for meeting questions: switch off the setting that lets people ask questions during meetings, or clear its "Auto-start when the meeting starts" box. Zoom’s own pages give that setting two names: "Allow users to ask AI Companion questions during meetings" and "Allow users to ask meeting questions with AI".
5. If you record to the cloud, switch off "Smart Recording with AI" under Recording.
6. Click Save. A greyed-out switch was locked by an admin at the group or account level, and only they can change it.

Two settings sit next to these. "Remind me to turn on AI when I’m hosting a meeting" is a reminder Zoom shows you as host when auto-start is off: clear it if you do not want the nudge. "Automatically share summary with" decides who receives summaries, and "Only me (meeting host)" turns off automatic sharing for meetings you create from then on.

For a host, the settings above are as permanent as it gets. One tap can still undo them: when the summary and its auto-start are both off and not locked, Zoom’s mobile app suggests turning them on when you schedule a meeting or view a summary, and tapping "Enable" switches both back on for all your meetings. To make it stick for everyone in a company, you need an account owner or admin: only they can lock a setting so nobody switches it back on.

1. Sign in to the web portal as an owner or admin, click your profile picture, then Admin Center > Settings > Zoom AI.
2. Switch off "Meeting summary with AI", meeting questions and "Smart Recording with AI", or clear only the auto-start boxes of the summary and the questions.
3. Click the lock icon next to each setting, then "Lock". Every group and user in the account then sees it greyed out.
4. For a feature that is off and locked, choose "Hidden in Meetings toolbar". With "Shown in Meetings toolbar", people in a meeting still see the option and can ask an admin to turn it on; if no admin is in the meeting, Zoom emails the account admins.
5. Click Save. To do this for one group instead: Admin Center > Users > Groups > the group > Edit product settings > Zoom AI.

There is also one switch for the lot: "Allow Zoom AI on this account", under Admin Center > Settings > Zoom AI, turns several AI features on or off at once. Which accounts have it is unclear: Zoom’s page names select Zoom Workplace Pro and Business accounts, lists Pro, Education, Business and Enterprise in its requirements, and says some accounts are not eligible.

For teams such as legal or HR, a group setting goes further. In the group’s Zoom AI tab, "Restrict Zoom AI features and transcription when joining meetings" stops meeting summary, meeting questions and My Notes as soon as a member of that group joins a meeting, and the host cannot start them again. It needs Zoom 7.1.0 or later, and an admin can lock it.

A participant cannot switch Zoom’s AI off. Zoom says only the host and co-hosts can start or stop the meeting summary, and only the host can start or stop meeting questions. What you can do:

• Check what is on. When meeting summary or questions are running, the AI icon at the top right of the meeting window lights up, and hovering over it shows which features are on. Zoom says attendees are notified when AI features are turned on.
• Ask the host to stop it. Zoom’s AI whitepaper says participants can ask the host to turn these features off for the meeting.
• Ask to stop the transcript. If one is running, hover over the transcript icon at the top right and click "Ask host to stop transcription". The host chooses "Stop transcription" or "Decline", and stopping it also stops meeting summary, in-meeting questions and smart recording.
• Leave. If the account shows a custom AI notice that asks for consent, your camera and microphone stay off until you accept, and the notice lets you accept or leave the meeting.

Otter, Fireflies, Read.ai and similar notetakers are not Zoom’s AI. They join the meeting as a participant, so the host or a co-host removes them like one:

1. Click Host tools in the meeting controls. In versions before 6.0.0 and in the web app it is called Security; on a phone, tap More, then Security.
2. Choose "Remove participant" and pick the bot. Zoom keeps a removed participant out of that meeting unless "Allow removed participants to rejoin" is on.

To keep the next one out, use the same menu to turn on the waiting room, or lock the meeting once everyone has arrived. Account admins can go further: Admin Center > Settings > General > Security > "Manage which Zoom apps can join as a participant in meetings and webinars in your organization" blocks the apps you list, or allows only those.

Bots tend to come back because someone’s connected calendar sends them again. Our guide covers the rest for Zoom, Teams and Google Meet.

Zoom’s AI can also join Google Meet and Microsoft Teams calls as an assistant, if its owner allowed Zoom AI to join third-party meetings. Others see a chat message about 3 minutes after the start and a video tile with Zoom branding and a "Transcribing" status. If it joins on its own, automatic joining is on for meetings on the owner’s calendar, set by the owner or by their admin. The owner sends it away from the meeting card on the Home tab of the Zoom desktop app: open "Ask AI" and switch off "Invite Zoom AI". Zoom says it leaves at once and only rejoins if that is switched back on. To stop it for good, switch off "Allow Zoom AI to join third-party meetings" in Settings > Zoom AI, or have an admin lock it off.

If you turned Zoom’s AI off but still want notes for yourself, some notetakers record from your own computer instead of joining the call. Reline is one: its desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux (beta) records your microphone and your computer’s audio, so nothing joins the Zoom meeting or appears in its participant list. Transcription and summaries run in the cloud, not on your device.

It does not switch off anyone else’s Zoom AI or bot. Because nothing joins the call, Zoom shows the others nothing about it, so tell people you are recording before you start, where the law or your company’s policy requires it. If your company switched Zoom’s AI off on purpose, check its policy before using any notetaker. On a Mac, recording the call’s sound needs macOS 13 or later; before that, Reline records your microphone only.

• Zoom Support, "Using Meeting Summary with AI" (KB0058013) and "Enabling or disabling meeting summary with AI" (KB0057960): support.zoom.com
• Zoom Support, "Asking in-meeting questions with AI" (KB0057748) and "Enabling or disabling meeting questions with AI Companion" (KB0057749): support.zoom.com
• Zoom Support, "Using smart recording with AI" (KB0061101) and "Enabling or disabling Smart Recording with AI" (KB0058511): support.zoom.com
• Zoom Support, "Enabling or disabling AI features using the universal toggle" (KB0076668) and "Enabling or disabling Zoom AI features restriction for groups" (KB0089082): support.zoom.com
• Zoom Support, "Configuring the custom message for AI" (KB0082011): support.zoom.com
• Zoom Support, "Using Meeting transcripts" (KB0085682) and "Using My Notes" (KB0083849): support.zoom.com
• Zoom Support, "Changing settings in the Zoom Workplace desktop and mobile app" (KB0060612, with its French and German versions, KB0060622 and KB0060621): support.zoom.com
• Zoom Support, "Changing security settings in a Zoom meeting" (KB0061231) and "Managing SDK app access for meetings and webinars" (KB0083775): support.zoom.com
• Zoom Support, "Using Zoom AI in third-party meetings" (KB0080354) and "Enabling or disabling Zoom AI to join third-party meetings for meeting summaries" (KB0080357): support.zoom.com
• Zoom AI whitepaper, "User Transparency and Notice": library.zoom.com
• Zoom blog, "An IT leader’s guide to Zoom AI Companion" (20 December 2023, with an editor’s update in June 2026): zoom.com
• Zoom blog, "Meet ZoomMate: Zoom’s next chapter in AI" (24 June 2026): zoom.com