AI is here to mask barking dogs and screaming kids from your video calls
This kind of loud snacking may not bother you in the future. (microsoft/)When social distancing started, video calling quickly stumbled into its role as a fundamental method of interpersonal communication. The tool is not the same as meeting in-person, but simply seeing other faces made typical audio-only conference calls feel hopelessly antiquated. Now, however, after months of distance, video calling’s novelty has faded and the annoying quirks have become more apparent. A barking dog in the background isn’t as cute as it once was, and anyone who eats from a crinkly bag during a brainstorm without muting their mic should go into one of those mega-jails where the Avengers house super villains. Now, however, companies such as Microsoft and Google are ramping up AI-powered efforts to cancel out annoying background noise during video calls. In fact, Google just started rolling out its noise-canceling feature to some G Suite corporate customers...