AI voice translator, agents, and a cloud computer: The Microsoft announcements you may have missed

Microsoft announced on Tuesday it is going all out on artificial intelligence (AI) ‘agents’ as it moves full speed ahead in integrating the technology into work tools. 

At the tech giant’s so-called Microsoft Ignite event in Chicago, it made a series of announcements and software updates, including an AI feature in Teams that can translate speech and replicate an individual employee’s voice.

Here is a breakdown of some of the key announcements. 

The voice translator

“Imagine being able to sound just like you in a different language,” Microsoft wrote in a blog post.

The Interpreter agent in Teams will allow you to have real-time speech-to-speech interpretation during meetings, the company said, adding that you can decide to have it simulate your own voice. 

It will be available in nine languages: English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Mandarin Chinese, and Spanish.

It is expected to come in a public preview in early 2025. 

Microsoft did not reveal much detail about the security protocols around the voice cloning technology, which has raised concerns about the spread of deepfake audio and video. 

All the AI agents

AI agents are designed to take autonomous actions to assist humans and do not require a human to tell them what to do, as they gather data based on user preference. 

Microsoft announced its AI agents would also be available in SharePoint and can answer questions about files, folders, or sites.

There is also a Teams Facilitator agent, which will take notes and summarise meetings in the Teams application. This is now available for preview. 

There is also a so-called Employee Self-Service Agent in Business Chat, that Microsoft says quickly answers common policy questions and makes it easy to complete key tasks.

It can help employees understand their benefits, for instance, or request a new laptop. 

A new PC

Microsoft is also building a new kind of Windows PC, which is a sort of  Mini PC, called Windows 365 Link.

It will run Windows entirely in the cloud and has a price tag of $349 (€330).

Security

The company also made a point to highlight how its technology would be more secure. 

Microsoft said it was launching an AI-powered protective shield that detects pop-up scams.

The so-called Scareware blocker for Microsoft Edge will intercept scams that tell you your computer is infected and alert the user that it is a scam.