Designer, Microsoft’s AI-powered art-generating device, is coming to the free model of Groups.
Beginning right this moment in preview on Home windows 11, Microsoft Groups customers can faucet Designer, a Canva-like app, to generate designs for displays, posters, digital postcards and extra to share on social media and different channels. Designer accepts textual content prompts or uploaded pictures, and leverages DALL-E 2, OpenAI’s text-to-image AI, to ideate designs — with drop-downs and textual content containers for additional customization and personalization.
Designer, which can also be out there through the net and in Microsoft’s Edge browser by way of the sidebar, was initially introduced final October. New options together with caption technology and animated visuals arrived in April, and Microsoft’s promised extra — like superior modifying options — are on the way in which.
Microsoft’s final objective is to monetize Designer by way of Microsoft 365 Private and Household subscriptions, however the firm hasn’t telegraphed the place pricing would possibly land, precisely. It has mentioned, nevertheless, that among the device’s performance will stay free. Which performance is anybody’s guess.
Picture Credit: Microsoft
Different Groups updates introduced right this moment have decidedly much less to do with AI.
Now, customers of GroupMe, Microsoft’s free group messaging app, can create Groups calls by beginning a name from inside any new or present group chat.
And starting this week, Groups’ communities characteristic, which lets customers join, share and collaborate in Discord-like teams, is supported on Home windows 11 (with macOS and Home windows 10 compatibility to return down the road). As with Groups communities on different platforms, Home windows 11 customers can create communities, host occasions, average content material and get notified about upcoming occasions and actions.
A brand new communities discovery characteristic, set to roll out within the coming days on Home windows 11, iOS and Android, permits Groups customers to affix communities targeted on matters like parenting, gaming, gardening, know-how and distant work. (It’s as much as group house owners on iOS and Android to allow their communities to be found on Groups, Microsoft says.) Homeowners can approve or reject requests to affix their communities and assign proprietor controls to others within the group, in addition to create polls through MSForms and share posts as emails, in the event that they so select.
In a associated replace, Groups group members can now document movies from their cellular units utilizing a brand new seize expertise with up to date filters and markup instruments. And on iOS, group house owners can scan and invite emails or cellphone numbers from a web based doc, paper listing or different record utilizing their cellphone digital camera.
The plethora of recent options arrives as Groups continues to develop, majorly bolstered by distant and hybrid work developments. The variety of day by day lively Groups customers nearly doubled from 2021 to 2022, rising from 145 million customers to 270 million.