With this feature, people who speak different languages can connect and communicate. This is achieved through the Inline message translation, while translates posts in chat and Microsoft Teams channels. Importantly, this happens in real time, allowing fluid translated conversations. The release is part of Microsoft’s deeper artificial intelligence integrations in Teams. Announced in March, Inline message translation is part of an AI packages that will roll out in stages. In terms of other AI improvement Microsoft is making in Teams, here’s the list:
“Cloud recording—Will provide one-click meeting recordings with automatic transcription and timecoding. Enabling all team members the ability to read captions, search within the conversation, and playback all or part of the meeting. In the future, it will also include facial recognition, so remarks can be attributed to specific meeting attendees. Inline message translation—People who speak different languages will be able to fluidly communicate with one another by translating posts in channels and chat. Cortana voice interactions for Teams-enabled devices—Will enable you to easily make a call, join a meeting, or add other people to a meeting in Teams using spoken, natural language. This functionality will extend to IP phones and conference room devices. Background blur on video—The ability to blur your background during video calls will allow other meeting attendees to focus on you, not what’s behind you. Proximity detection for Teams Meetings—This feature will make it easy for you to discover and add a nearby and available Skype Room System to any meeting. Mobile sharing in meetings—Meeting attendees will be able to share a live video stream, photos, or the screen from their mobile device.”
Free Teams
Away from this feature, this month has been an important one for Microsoft Teams. Last week, the company announced a free version of the platform, a more direct competitor with Slack. However, free Microsoft Teams has some benefits over Slack. For example, he app offers unlimited searchable messages versus Slack’s maximum of 10,000. It also has 140+ free integrations versus Slack’s 10. Teams also gives each user 2 GB of storage and each organization 10 GB of shared space.
