Are you afraid that other people on the video call will see your dirty office or messy living room? A new feature coming to Microsoft Teams will be able to do a virtual makeover to make your surroundings more presentable.
At its Ignite 2023 conference on Tuesday, Microsoft unveiled a A host of AI-based improvements for its Teams video conferencing platform.
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One of the top features on the list is called “decorate your background”. With this new AI-based option, you’ll be able to apply generative effects to spruce up your real-world backgrounds. You can clean up clutter or add plants to a wall, convincing people that you’re more like Felix Unger than Oscar Madison. This feature will be available to anyone with a Teams Premium license early next year.
Another AI-infused option promises to differentiate your voice by learning how you speak. Called “Voice Isolation,” this feature will recognize your voice and suppress other voices and sounds in the background so that your own words come through more clearly. Microsoft says it takes a short enrollment period and the AI will know how to recognize your speech. Added to Team Phone and Team Meetings, new “Voice Isolation” will roll out in early 2024.
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On the Copilot front, Copilot for Teams promises to handle much of the manual labor involved in running a virtual meeting. Instead of delegating note-taking to one of the meeting participants, you can ask Copilot to be your virtual meeting assistant. AI will be able to take collaborative notes throughout your call and then share them with all participants. You can tell Copilot to capture words from a specific person and it will serve up a transcript for everyone to see.
Don’t want to keep a transcript of the meeting? The copilot can still play a role, allowing you to ask it specific questions and look up information during the call. After the meeting ends, no transcripts and conversations with the copilot will be saved. This feature is generally available to Microsoft 365 Copilot license holders.
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A Copilot compose box in team chats and channels will help you write or rewrite a message if you have writer’s block. And Copilot on Microsoft Whiteboard will automatically capture and visualize talking points during a meeting, save them, and then share them with all participants.
Finally, Copilot will gain an intelligent recap feature for those who missed meetings or want to review discussions. The recap will provide a summary of key points, action items, and decisions so everyone is up to date. You will be able to ask copilot-specific questions about the meeting.
Most of the Copilot and AI features will pop up in early 2024, while the Intelligent Recap option will launch in December this year.
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With all the interest in artificial intelligence, Microsoft is adding AI to its products and services. Seeking to capitalize on the trend, the company is actively pushing the Copilot name to define its AI integration across Windows, Office, Teams, Azure and other offerings for consumer and enterprise customers. With such a push, Microsoft is keen to transform AI from a buzzword into a real business model.