Zoho’s New Zia AI Model & Enterprise AI Agents

Zoho Launches In-House Zia AI Model and Pre-Built AI Agents

Zoho, a leading global software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider, has recently announced a suite of new artificial intelligence (AI) offerings. At Zoholics India, their annual user conference in Bengaluru, the company unveiled its first in-house large language model (LLM) named Zia, along with an automatic speech recognition (ASR) model, over 25 pre-built AI agents, the Zia Agent Studio marketplace, and a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server designed to facilitate connections between third-party agents and Zoho’s extensive library.

Zia LLM: Zoho’s Native AI Powerhouse

The highlight of Zoho’s announcement is the Zia LLM, a significant step as it’s the company’s first AI model developed entirely in-house. Built on Nvidia’s AI-accelerated computing platform, Zia is currently undergoing testing and is expected to be available to Zoho customers by the end of the year. This move underscores Zoho’s commitment to providing integrated and customized AI solutions within its ecosystem.

Zia is being developed in three parameter sizes: 1.3 billion, 2.6 billion, and 7 billion. These models are specifically trained for Zoho’s product use cases, enabling them to perform a broad spectrum of tasks, including:

• Structured data extraction
• Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)
• Code generation
• Summarization

Zoho reports that Zia’s performance is competitive with similarly sized open-source models. The company plans to scale Zia’s size further, with parameter increases scheduled to begin by the end of 2025. This iterative approach will allow Zoho to refine Zia’s capabilities and ensure it meets the evolving needs of its users.

Expanding Speech Recognition Capabilities

Zoho is also investing in automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology. The company has announced two new ASR models for speech-to-text conversion, initially supporting English and Hindi. Zoho intends to broaden language support to include other Indian and European languages. Furthermore, a reasoning language model (RLM) is also in development, indicating Zoho’s dedication to comprehensive language processing solutions.

AI Agents: Enhancing Productivity Across Zoho’s Suite

Zoho has developed more than 25 AI agents, deeply integrated across its product suite. These agents are designed to streamline workflows and enhance user productivity. For instance, Ask Zia, a conversational AI assistant, can analyze data, generate reports and dashboards, and even assist in building machine learning models. The latest enhancements to Ask Zia extend its capabilities to support Finance and Customer Support teams.

Zia Agent Studio: Empowering No-Code AI Agent Creation

Zoho has enhanced the Zia Agent Studio, a platform that allows users to create AI agents using a prompt-based, no-code approach. This means users can build custom agents without extensive coding knowledge, making AI accessible to a wider range of users. These agents can integrate with over 700 actions across Zoho’s products and can be invoked within customer conversations.

Examples of Pre-Built AI Agents:

• Candidate Screener: This recruitment-focused agent identifies and ranks suitable candidates based on role requirements, skills, experience, and other attributes.
• Deal Analyzer: This agent analyzes deals and provides insights, such as win probability and next best action, helping sales teams close more effectively.

AI Agents for the Indian Market

Zoho is focusing on the Indian market by launching several AI agents that handle the verification of Indian identity and business documents, including:

• PAN card
• Voter ID
• Aadhaar
• GSTIN
• Driving license
• LPG connection
• Electricity bill

These agents are accessible through Zoho’s agent marketplace, streamlining verification processes for businesses operating in India.

Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server

Zoho has adopted Anthropic’s MCP and created an in-house MCP server, allowing third-party AI agents to access Zoho’s data and actions from various first-party apps within user-defined permission structures. Currently, the server has more than 15 Zoho tools available in early access, with more tools planned for integration in the coming months. Third-party tools can be accessed via Zoho Flow.