Microsoft Teams is a virtual Marie Kondo for your office space

Thanks to the pandemic-driven video calling boom, your favorite video chat apps now have sophisticated features like background blurring or swapping, transforming our homes into serene beaches or bustling cityscapes. Microsoft, in particular, has pulled out all the stops for Teams, offering a wide range of imaginative backgrounds for every situation imaginable. But let’s face it, these virtual backgrounds often look as fake as they are. Enter Microsoft’s new AI-powered background makeover tool, which ditches cheesy virtual backgrounds and uses AI to spruce up your real-world surroundings, no matter how messy they seem.

At its Ignite 2023 conference, Microsoft announced a series of nifty AI-powered upgrades to its Teams video conferencing platform. Perhaps the coolest kid on the block is a feature called “Decorate Your Background.” This new AI-powered option lets you add cool effects to your real background with all kinds of generative effects (fixing the mess or adding virtual plants), even if your real environment doesn’t match. Anyone with a Teams Premium license will be able to join in the fun when it rolls out early next year.

Microsoft also has another AI trick up its sleeve, and this one is called “Voice Isolation.” This smart feature will learn how you speak and ensure your voice is the star of the show by drowning out background noise and other voices during your video calls. All you have to do is give the AI ​​a quick voice sample and it will be ready to go. This handy feature will be added to Teams Phone and Teams Meetings in early 2024.

In addition to these scenery adjustments, the software giant is also preparing for our virtual reality future. The company is integrating its AR/VR platform, Microsoft Mesh, with Teams starting in January. This means you’ll be able to join meetings in a virtual space, even if you don’t have a VR or AR headset. While it’s not possible to interact with the added decor improvements right now, it’s a step in the right direction to make virtual meetings more immersive.

Juggling note-taking, screen sharing, and following the discussion during virtual meetings can be very complicated. This is where Copilot for Teams comes in. This handy, AI-powered assistant will handle all the details for you, so you can focus on the meeting itself. Copilot can take full notes throughout your call and can even transcribe what specific people say, so you can easily review key points later. And if you need to share the notes with others, Copilot will be able to share them with everyone in the meeting with just one click.

If you don’t like keeping meeting transcripts, Copilot has you covered. You can ask him questions during the call and he will find the information you need. Once the meeting is over, no transcripts or conversations with Copilot are recorded. And if you’re ever at a loss for words, the tool can help you too. Simply open the Copilot compose box in chat or Teams channels, and it will help you easily write or rewrite your message.

Microsoft Teams also benefits from a whole host of new features to liven up your virtual conversations. You can now customize emoji reactions, and if you want to share a conversation with someone who isn’t in the conversation, you can now forward it with all its context. For those who want to put a face to their group chats, Teams lets you create a group chat profile photo. Whether you’re a seasoned Teams user or just getting started, there’s something new for everyone in this latest update.