Microsoft Teams To Prevent Awkward Interruptions In Video Calls Through Use Of AI | Digit

Microsoft will soon address the video chat and audio overlapping problems on Microsoft Teams through the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Microsoft is rolling out AI-based voice upgrades for the video chat platform that should help every participant hear each other without disruptions. 

The new Machine Learning models will help Microsoft Teams to eliminate echoes and also cut out the awkward interruptions in a Teams meeting due to echo-related overlaps. This in no sense means that a person who wants to hijack a conversation would not be able to do so, but it essentially means one can put forward their point without machine-related hassles without breaking their train of thought. Even if you have poor acoustics in your room, your voice will be heard clearly on the other end. 

What is it? 

The machine learning model will counter the problem of echoes by using a combination of roughly 100,000 simulated rooms and training from 30,000 hours of speech. Microsoft Teams has paid regular users to record their voices to identify the various devices that Teams work on. 

 “We have now started using machine learning for the first time to build echo cancellation where you can truly reduce echo from all the different devices,” said Robert Aichner, a principal program manager for intelligent conversation and communications cloud at Microsoft.

The processing of the speech takes place on your device. This helps Microsoft to cut costs and make sure the echo cancellation happens quickl6y and over the varied range of products on which Microsoft Teams is accessed. 

The feature is live after several months of testing. This comes along with a few other upgrades like AI improvements for bandwidth-limited video calls and optimizations for displaying text. The few added upgrades might allow users to switch from video conferencing apps like Google Meet and Zoom to Microsoft Teams.