5 key video conferencing trends to watch in 2026

1. Agentic AI participants

This is the trend I am most excited about. In fact, I regard this as beyond revolutionary. For the last two years, we have had AI assistants that could summarize a meeting or answer a question. They were helpful, but they were passive. In 2026, agentic AI will finally arrive. These are not assistants, these are teammates.

Imagine having a new team member who has read every email, chat and document your company has produced. Now imagine that the team member joins your video meeting. When you agree to schedule a follow-up, this team member -- an AI agent -- doesn't just note the action item to schedule a meeting. It actually coordinates everyone's calendars and sends the invite before you finish your sentence.

Or imagine you are brainstorming a project and mention a Jira ticket. The agent can update the ticket in real time. If you need a file, the agent finds it and drops it into the chat without being asked.

This is fundamentally different from an AI summary tool. It is an agent with permission to perform tasks. I have seen impressive demos from Zoom's AI Companion 3.0 and Microsoft's autonomous agents. The effect on productivity will be massive because post-meeting friction simply vanishes. The work happens during the meeting and is performed by an AI participant eager to help.

2. The rise of the digital twin

If agentic AI helps you during meetings, what happens when you can't be in the meeting at all? In 2026, you might send your digital twin instead.

The idea of digital twin avatars moved from theory to reality in May 2025, when Zoom CEO Eric Yuan used his own digital twin to deliver the opening remarks of the company's quarterly earnings call. It wasn't Eric on camera; it was an AI avatar generated from a script to deliver financial news to investors.

I know what you are thinking. Is it really him? No, but it represents him. These digital twins can sit in a meeting, deliver a scripted update and answer questions based on knowledge they are authorized to access.

This solves the impossible problem of modern management. You cannot be in two places at once, but your digital twin can. I expect to see executives using digital twins in order to attend conflicting low-stakes meetings. Digital twins could enable executives to maintain a presence and keep team workflows going.

This technology is incredibly controversial. While leaders like Eric are firm believers in its potential to clone our productivity, many critics argue that it erodes trust. They question the value of meeting with a synthetic human and worry about the uncanny valley. Despite skepticism and concerns that it removes the human from human connection, the believers are pushing forward.

3. Deepfake defense shields

The first two trends go hand in hand. If we are living in a world where I can send a digital twin to a meeting, we have a new problem. How do you know if you are talking to the real David Maldow or his AI proxy? Security is what makes these trends possible. In 2026, we will see the widespread adoption of deepfake defense shields or biometric authentication watermarks in video calls.

Services like Microsoft Teams and Zoom will roll out features that cryptographically verify the video feed. Think of it like the verified checkmark on social media, but for your face in real time. If a video feed is purely synthetic or has been tampered with by a bad actor, the platform will flag it immediately.

This is critical for trust. If I am negotiating a contract, I need to know I am looking at a human. I hope that we will start seeing small icons on our screens indicating a verified human source or an authorized AI avatar. Without this layer of trust, the video meetings will suffer as everyone will be too suspicious to get any work done.

4. The zero-touch cinematic director

One prominent trend last year was multi-camera direction, and the technology has taken a massive leap forward. The initial focus was to frame people correctly. In 2026, the goal is to direct the scene like a movie, without anyone touching a remote.

The new generation of room intelligence uses gaze attention and attention-based switching. The cameras don't just look for who is talking, they also look for who is reacting to the speaker. If I am speaking and turn to look at my colleague for approval, the AI can determine that her reaction is most important. The video system could focus on her face to catch her reaction or place us in the same frame.

This is the zero-touch promise. Video meetings feel less like a security camera feed and more like a professionally edited TV show. It reduces the fatigue of remote participants who used to struggle to read the room dynamics. Now, remotely attending a meeting is as engaging as watching a sitcom.

5. Real-time sentiment coaching

Sentiment analysis is typically viewed as a tool for contact centers. AI can monitor the sentiment of a call and let the contact center agent know if a customer is still upset and needs additional service. Obviously, additional insight into how a customer feels can be a powerful tool for agents, but I think it is too good to limit to the contact center. Having an AI coach give me real-time feedback in a meeting will be a game-changer.

Imagine a feature like a private mood monitor on your screen that only you can see. It can analyze the vocal tones and micro-expressions of meeting attendees and let you know how people are really feeling. It could even provide real-time coaching based on how people react and offer insights into when engagement drops, when participants need clarification or even if you're speaking too fast.

The future of AI in video conferencing in 2026 is active, helpful and exciting. I can't wait to see what my AI teammate does next.

Editor's note: This article was updated in December 2025 to reflect upcoming trends and technology in the video conferencing market.

David Maldow is founder and CEO of Let's Do Video. He has written about the video and visual collaboration industry for almost 20 years.