At Build 2025, Microsoft's head of AI security, Neta Haiby, accidentally revealed Walmart's AI plans during a livestream. The leak happened when Haiby shared her screen and showed messages within Microsoft Teams.
The mistake happened while a protester was being removed from the area, creating a high-pressure situation. In a moment like that, it's difficult to think about blurring messages or which messages were last opened on Teams.
That is why Microsoft should add a feature to Teams that blurs messages automatically. I'm not the first to suggest this or ask about it. Li Dia asked about blurring Teams messages when screen sharing in March 2024:
"Is there a feature which allows to have messages in MS Teams (not pop-ups, but entire message window) to be automatically blurred when in screen sharing mode? Or, alternatively, not to allow MS Teams messages to be shown in screen sharing mode? It has happened to me that I was sharing my screen, and e.g. forgot that I was sharing my screen or I moved one window and MS Teams was just behind, and everyone could see my conversations."
Responses to Dia indicate that no such feature exists. As far as I can tell, the feature is not on the Microsoft 365 Roadmap either.
Introducing a feature to automatically blur chat windows would improve privacy and security. Many people want to check messages while presenting but currently have to stop screen sharing to do so privately or use a separate device to check messages.
Of course, a presenter could choose a specific window to share rather than share an entire screen or protect messages in another way. But having an automatic blurring effect would help in stressful situations or when something unexpected occurs, such as a protester interrupting a speech during Build.
Microsoft could also build a feature that blurs any messaging app, not just Teams. AI grows in capabilities regularly, so over time Microsoft's AI tools should be able to recognize any messaging app.
