Skype adds 'background blur' feature to stop people seeing your messy room
Feature might not be entirely reliable just yet, company cautions
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Skype is now going to hide probably the most embarrassing thing about video chats: your messy room.
The company has introduced a new background blur feature intended to hide away all of those parts of your room that you'd rather people not see, as well as parents whose TV interviews are interrupted by children storming into their study.
The tool uses artificial intelligence to pick out the users' hair, hands, and arms, as well as looking for people, and will keep those visible. Everything else will blend into the background, allowing people to focus on you as you speak.
Turning it on is as simple as clicking the little video button during a chat. From there, the option to "blur my background" will appear, along with a preview of what it might look like.
But it might not always work, Skype notes. The machine learning that powers the technology might not always be able to find your background, meaning that embarrassments and difficulties could still happen.
"We do our best to make sure that your background is always blurred, but we cannot guarantee that your background will always be blurred," it said in its announcement.
Background blur was already available in Microsoft Teams, in a similar tool meant for using in the workplace.
It should now be available on most laptops and desktops with the latest version of Skype.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments