Microsoft is adding an integration for OpenAI DALL-E service to Teams Premium, allowing users to leverage AI to generate background images.
The service will allow users to design their own backgrounds for announcement posts in Channels by inputting natural language prompts.
Announced via Microsoft’s Roadmap page, the tech giant didn’t specify which version of DALL-E would be included in the Teams Premium integration, but it is likely to be the latest model, DALL-E 3, which is already freely available as part of Bing Chat.
DALL-E 3’s more advanced functionality means it can handle complex prompts, allowing users to input a detailed description to generate more accurate and authentic images. The capability to design users’ own backgrounds follows Teams refreshing its library of virtual backgrounds in May.
Non-Premium Teams users can create custom backgrounds for Channels announcements with a simple process, but the capability to generate images using text prompts with the DALL-E image creator tool will be exclusive to Teams Premium customers.
DALL-E access for Teams Premium customers will be available across several platforms, encompassing Windows, iOS, Android, web, and Mac. The update will start rolling out this month. This feature will be available in cloud instances, including GCC, Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant), DoD, and GCC High, allowing accessibility to various customers in the Teams ecosystem.
The DALL-E and Teams integration is the latest illustration of Microsoft and OpenAI’s partnership, with the former investing $13 billion in OpenAI earlier this year and having integrated ChatGPT across several of its products and services.
A Seismic Week for AI
This week signals a seismic week in artificial intelligence — not only for its ongoing technological evolution but for how political bodies and nations understand and approach AI.
From President Joe Biden’s Executive Order on AI to both the USA and the United Kingdom establishing AI Safety Institutes to the G7 agreeing on concrete guiding principles and a code of conduct for developing AI, it has been a momentous few days that will likely have significant consequences for AI’s future development and application.
But what precisely has happened, and how will it impact the UC and collaboration world? UC Today covers precisely those questions here.
What’s Been Going on With Teams Recently?
The compelling DALL-E feature for Teams Premium follows the news last week that Teams Premium had reached 10,000 paying customers, according to Microsoft’s latest earnings.
Microsoft’s latest financial update, which recorded significant revenue and net income growth, also underlined that Teams Rooms had seen nine consecutive quarters of triple-digit growth, while Teams had reached 320 million monthly active users (MAU). Satya Nadella, Microsoft Chairman and CEO, also highlighted the launch of the new Teams client, “Teams 2.0”, and the improved performance and user experience of the new app.
In other Teams news this week, the platform has introduced a new channel experience to improve worker productivity and collaboration.
Now generally available in both the classic and new Teams client, the revamp was prompted by Microsoft observing that many customers were not utilising channels to their full capacity. The tech giant applied user research, customer feedback and communication platform trends to enhance the collaborative channels experience. The new channel experience is enabled in all channel versions, such as standard, private, and shared channels.
