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Microsoft Teams is getting new AI tools — and they’re free

By Fionna Agomuoh June 2, 2023

Microsoft recently announced a major update to its communities and GroupMe features on its free Teams app. In addition to more features that mirror a platform like Discord, Teams now supports AI-generated images in Communities, à la Midjourney.

The Communities feature has been a breakout hit for Microsoft Teams since its introduction in December 2022, and has been available for Microsoft 365 Personal and Family plans, along with Teams Essentials accounts. Since then, many people have found the feature beneficial for local collaboration such as sharing projects, exchanging ideas, and pooling resources. According to user feedback, the feature allows collaborators to stay connected before, during, and after gatherings, Microsoft said.

Taking into consideration new functions, streamlined accessibility, bug fixes, and other user notes, Microsoft has rolled out an updated version of Communities for Microsoft Teams. These features will be available immediately for Windows 11 devices, as well as iOS and Android devices, for free. Here are some of the new features available on Communities.

You will be able to collaborate with communities on Teams across platforms, Windows 11, iOS, and Android. As a community owner, you will also be able to start communities, share your communities and invite members, host events, and moderate content. These features will soon be coming for Windows 11, macOS, and web-based communities.
Communities will have support for Microsoft Designer, allowing you to create AI-generated design content within hosted spaces.
Communities will include a camera feature that will allow you to capture video from mobile devices or edit content with filters and markup tools.
You will be able to find new communities to join based on your interests, such as parenting, gaming, gardening, technology, and remote work.
Community owners now have the ability to approve or reject requests for joining spaces, and can also gather polls from the community, which are powered by Microsoft Forms.

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In addition to the Communities updates, Microsoft has also announced its new features on GroupMe, which is a communication app centered on college and university campuses. GroupMe has seen a visual redesign, with new Topic chats meant for large group conversations. The ecosystem is focused on discovering new people. As it’s based on Microsoft Teams, you can make Teams calls without having to leave GroupMe.

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Fionna Agomuoh is a technology journalist with over a decade of experience writing about various consumer electronics topics…

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