The device, which is shaped like a cone, is equipped with a 360-degree camera and a powerful microphone array. The camera uses facial recognition to scan the room and identify meeting participants. The microphones are used to pick up their voice and transcribe everyword spoken in a meeting in real-time using Microsoft's AI software. The voice recognition/transcription works with any language, which is helpful for companies where employees are working with teams that may be scattered across the globe. Such a device will be completely integrated into Teams, which is Microsoft's increasingly feature-packed competitor to Slack. The transcription feature of the device can handle the speech of multiple meeting participants in multiple languages simultaneously. However, the fact that this system can identify meeting participants and automatically transcribe their every spoken word for future reference might bring some embarrassing side effects, as this Twitter response makes clear:

Microsoft's meeting prototype device was cool, but what happens if every random comment you make in a meeting is transcribed and preserved for anyone to see? I guess it's a good way to make sure meetings stay on topic.. pic.twitter.com/qTBRo7CX8i — Karissa Bell (@karissabe) May 7, 2018