Microsoft upgrades Teams’ Copilot for smoother meetings, easier chats

WEB DESK: Microsoft is enhancing the functionality of its AI-driven Copilot within Microsoft Teams, introducing new methods for engaging with the assistant during meeting discussions and enhancing its summarisation capabilities.

Currently, Copilot can generate summaries of Teams meetings. However, in the upcoming months, it will amalgamate spoken transcripts and written chats into a unified interface, facilitating easier catch-up for missed meetings.

Moreover, Copilot within Teams is receiving enhancements for composing messages in chats, enabling users to rephrase messages in various styles.

According to a blog post by Microsoft, “Copilot can modify your message to include a call to action or mimic a pirate’s speech.”

Additionally, users will soon have the ability to generate new messages based on the context of the Teams chat.

Intelligent call recap, a feature for traditional Teams calls directly to phones, will be widely available in the next quarter with Teams Premium.

This feature automatically takes notes during calls, enabling users to summarise phone conversations and identify follow-up actions without the need to take manual notes.

While these AI enhancements may seem incremental individually, collectively they enhance the versatility of Copilot within Teams.

The integration of Copilot into Teams exemplifies Microsoft’s adept incorporation of AI into Office applications, offering quick meeting recaps through summaries that even pinpoint when participants were mentioned during meetings.

In addition to its focus on Copilot within Teams, Microsoft is introducing new hybrid meeting features aimed at enhancing the experience for both remote and in-room participants.

Later this year, automatic camera switching will be introduced for the IntelliFrame feature in Teams Rooms.

This feature utilises AI to select the optimal camera in a meeting room, whether it be room cameras or laptops, ensuring remote participants have the best possible view, particularly in instances where a camera may be obstructed.

Furthermore, speaker recognition will be accessible for any microphone in Teams Rooms as part of an April preview.

This feature allows users to enroll their voice and facial profiles, ensuring accurate transcription of their contributions during Teams meetings.

Finally, Microsoft is expanding support for its Teams Phone Mobile feature, which provides users with a single number for both Teams and their mobile device.

Microsoft has announced partnerships with several new carriers, including AT&T, Odido, Virgin Media O2, and Vodafone UK, who will offer Teams Phone Mobile later this year.