Microsoft launches Teams Premium with features powered by OpenAI

Microsoft Teams Premium is now available with features powered by OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 AI language model. The new premium tier of Microsoft Teams includes an intelligent recap feature that automatically generates notes, tasks, and highlights of meetings thanks to GPT-3.5, alongside branded meetings, custom meeting templates, and features like watermarking to better protect meeting contents.

Intelligent recap is the big new addition to Microsoft Teams Premium, and it may tempt users to pay the $7 per month per user introductory price ($10 per month from June 30th) just to get an idea of how useful it will be. Intelligent recap uses OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 model to generate meeting notes and highlights even if you weren’t present in a meeting.

It makes catching up a lot easier when meetings are held at awkward times or when employees are in different time zones or out of the office. Notes, mentions, and a full transcript are all available, with each speaker’s contributions highlighted in a neat timeline of topics and chapters. If a colleague mentions you in a meeting, you’ll even get personalized timeline markers to quickly see what was shared and discussed. While most intelligent recap features are available today, Microsoft says some won’t arrive until the second quarter of 2023.

Microsoft is also taking some Teams features and making them Premium-only. Live translated captions, custom organization Together Mode scenes, and a number of virtual appointments features will now be available for Premium only. Live translated captions will be available for a “60-day grace period” for existing Microsoft Teams users, and virtual appointment features will only be available for 30 days.

The other features of Microsoft Teams Premium that might appeal more to businesses are advanced meeting protections. This includes a number of safeguards like watermarking and labeling sensitive content during meetings, or the ability to restrict users from recording meetings and copying text from the meeting chat. Microsoft says these features could “deter leaks” or keep discussions private.

Microsoft Teams Premium also includes webinars so businesses can host events with registration waitlists, customizable start and end times, and virtual green rooms.

Microsoft launched a 30-day trial of Teams Premium in December as a preview of the features available today. Now that the subscription is generally available to all businesses, Microsoft Teams Premium is available at an introductory price of $7 per month per user until June 30th when it returns to the standard $10 per user per month pricing.