Microsoft has announced that Teams will receive a new security update changing how external bots are handled during meetings. The company confirmed that the platform will soon automatically identify and tag third-party bots attempting to join calls.
"During Teams meetings, if there is an external third-party bot trying to join the meeting, organizers will be able to see a clear representation of the bots while they wait in the lobby," Microsoft said in its announcement.
The update, scheduled to roll out in May 2026, reflects the evolving threat landscape facing collaboration tools. Understanding how the new feature works reveals why it represents a meaningful shift in meeting security.
What the New Feature Actually Does
When the update becomes generally available, external third-party bots that attempt to join a Teams meeting will no longer blend in with human participants in the lobby. Instead, they will be clearly labeled, making their non-human status immediately apparent to whoever is managing the meeting.
Meeting organizers will need to explicitly and individually admit those bots. They cannot be allowed into the meeting automatically as part of a broader group of attendees waiting in the lobby.
Microsoft has been direct about the intent behind this design. "Organizers will be required to explicitly and separately admit these bots into the meeting, if really required," the company stated in its announcement.
This change matters because bots used for note-taking, transcription, or other automated tasks are now widely deployed across modern businesses. Many are legitimate and valuable tools. However, the lack of visual distinction between a bot and a human participant in a lobby can create a blind spot that the new tagging system directly addresses.
Why Meeting Bots Have Become a Security Concern
Since the rise of AI, the presence of a bot joining a call has become completely unremarkable. Tools that record, transcribe, summarize, and analyze meetings are now fixtures of the remote working environment, and most attendees accept their presence without much thought.
