How often do you consider what’s going on behind you when you’re using Skype? It could be your colleagues moving around, a business plan or whiteboard annotations; or if you’re a home worker, an unexpected visitor or personal photograph in plain sight. Whilst it’s always a good idea to remove anything sensitive (and shut your office or meeting room door), a new AI-powered background blur feature is now available.

Artificial intelligence trained in human form detection, including hands, arms and hair, will ensure that you remain in focus during a call and everything else is blurred out. Simple to access on the latest version of Skype, simply hover over the video button and select “blur my background”: it’s not available on mobile versions of Skype yet but we’re expecting it soon. But if you choose to use this feature, remember, there are no guarantees exactly how much will be blurred out!