Microsoft brings support for AI-driven ‘Designer’, communities to Teams

The realm of AI has witnessed remarkable progress in recent months, with tech giants Microsoft and Google leading the way in integrating AI into their services. Both companies are locked in a rapidly-intensifying AI race even as they integrate AI (especially generative AI) into their products and services to maintain their edge over their rival. These advancements in AI integration by the likes of Microsoft and Google signal an exciting future with transformative implications. As AI becomes more ingrained in our daily lives, we can expect enhanced personalization, improved decision-making, and increased automation across various industries.

Now, Microsoft is expanding the capabilities of its collaborative communication platform, Teams, by introducing Designer, an AI-powered art-generating tool. In a move reminiscent of Canva, Designer empowers users to effortlessly create visually appealing designs for presentations, posters, digital postcards, and other content to be shared across various channels, including social media – using text prompts. Going forward, the built-in app for Microsoft teams will come with support for the AI-art tool, which leverages DALL-E 2 to perform its tasks. The development is not unexpected – it is already available via the web and in Microsoft’s Edge browser through the sidebar.

By incorporating Designer into Teams, Microsoft aims to enhance collaboration and productivity among its users. Teams has become a popular platform for remote work, virtual meetings, and communication, and the addition of Designer further enriches the collaborative experience. Users can seamlessly create and share visually compelling content within their Teams channels, fostering creativity and enabling efficient collaboration on projects. Designer leverages the power of artificial intelligence to provide users with a simple yet powerful tool for generating stunning visual content. By integrating Designer into Teams, Microsoft aims to streamline the design process and enhance collaboration within the platform.

“We’re excited to announce support for Microsoft Designer (Preview) in Teams on Windows 11. Powered by generative AI technology, Designer allows you to craft unique and personalized designs effortlessly. By describing your idea’s vision in words or utilizing an uploaded image, you can create captivating one-of-a-kind visuals. Simply create an announcement post in communities to design your own banner with Designer,” Amit Fulay, VP of Microsoft Teams Product, announced in an official statement.

The inclusion of Designer in Teams opens up a world of creative possibilities for users. From creating captivating presentations for business meetings to designing eye-catching posters for events, the tool caters to a wide range of design needs. Additionally, users can explore various templates and styles to produce digital postcards, social media graphics, and other visual content, enabling them to effortlessly share their ideas and messages with others. In short, it also represents a significant step forward in enhancing creativity and collaboration for users. With the ability to effortlessly generate visually stunning content, Teams users can now elevate their presentations, posters, and social media graphics with ease.

And if this is not enough, Microsoft is also bringing support for its communities feature for the free version of Teams on Windows 11. With this feature, users can collaborate with communities, create them, as well as share and invite members to said communities. Community members, Microsoft wrote, will also be allowed to conveniently record videos on their mobile devices using fresh filters and markup tools. Apart from these, users cancreate and host events, moderate content, and receive notifications about all important activities – all on Windows 11 devices, iOS and Android. Microsoft noted that support for communities in Teams on Windows 10, macOS devices, and the web will arrive “soon.”