Build 2023: Avatars for Microsoft Teams Meetings Are Coming This Week

Microsoft Teams avatars are going out of preview on the Teams desktop app for Windows and macOS this week. After Zoom introduced animal avatars and then human-looking avatars, the new Microsoft Teams avatars will let users create a digital version of themselves to use when video fatigue starts to kick in.

Microsoft Teams avatars will only be available for organizations with Microsoft 365 Business and Enterprise licenses. To use Teams avatars, Microsoft recommends having a Windows PC or Mac with four CPU cores or more and 8GB of RAM or better. Avatars are also not supported in the Teams web app, while the Teams mobile apps only provide a view-only experience.

In addition to making Teams avatars generally available this week, Microsoft is also launching a new immersive spaces feature for Microsoft Teams in private preview. It’s available on PC and VR headsets, and it lets users connect with other meeting participants through an immersive experience that imitates real-life meetings.

This new immersive spaces feature in Teams is powered by Microsoft Mesh, the mixed-reality platform that Microsoft announced back in 2021. This was right when the “metaverse” became a big topic, and before generative AI became the next big thing.

Just like immersive spaces for Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Mesh is now available in private preview starting today. Microsoft encourages developers can use the platform to create “shared experiences” that bring together remote and hybrid workers.