Microsoft Places uses AI to assist the new normal of hybrid work

Coordinating teams and in-office days in our new normal of hybrid work is a difficult task, and one that carries a lot of untapped potential for productivity tools. Today Microsoft announced the public preview launch of Places, a new app a couple years in the making that aims to use AI to assist teams in syncing their in-office time.

New tools for a new normal of hybrid work

At its core, Places offers some of the same “set your work location” functionality found in Google Calendar today, but in a more robust way. After asking users to input their work location for different days, Places offers a clean and data-rich interface for surfacing relevant info about what your co-workers’ plans are, how full or empty the office will be on a given day, availability of conference rooms and shared desks, and more.

Where AI comes into the picture is through Places’ forthcoming integration with Microsoft Copilot, the tech giant’s AI assistant.

Tom Warren, writing for The Verge:

You’ll be able to ask the AI assistant “which days should I go in this week?” and you’ll get a list of suggestions based on in-person meetings, when your co-workers are planning to be in, and any team days or events. “You will be able to ask Copilot to adjust your schedule based on this information — changing your work location to the office on recommended days and rescheduling in-person meetings,” says Spataro.

Also later this year, Copilot will be able to automatically book shared desks and meeting rooms for you, minimizing some of the additional admin work that hybrid work environments have made more prevalent.

9to5Mac’s Take

The Microsoft 365 suite is one of the major productivity platforms driving businesses, so its efforts to help workers adapt to the hybrid work era will go a long way. Places seems like a solid start toward tackling the issues this new normal of work has introduced, and the AI features when they launch later this year could prove especially useful if they work well.