Ilya Bukshteyn, corporate VP for Microsoft Teams Calling, Meetings and Devices, is inviting attendees to step into the AI-powered workplace during his InfoComm 2026 keynote address on Wednesday, June 17, at 1:30 p.m. Before his presentation, we asked him about AI, Microsoft Teams, and more.
Show Daily: In the Pro AV industry, should we see AI as a tool or a collaborator?
Ilya Bukshteyn: It is quickly becoming both. For years, we treated AI as a tool that lived inside applications: dictation, noise suppression, smart framing. We are now entering an era of agentic co-workers, AI that supports people by taking on tasks alongside us, reasons about context, and helps people multiply their impact. For collaboration and workspaces, the implication is profound. The spaces, devices, and signal flows we design are no longer just carrying meetings between humans; they are carrying conversations between humans and the AI agents that increasingly work with them.
SD: There’s been a return-to-office push, but videoconferencing is not going away, right?
IB: People are coming back to the office, but work itself remains distributed across geographies, time zones, and partner organizations. Hybrid is the new permanent normal, and the bar has gone up. The expectation today is that anyone joining remotely should be able to see and be seen, hear and be heard, and contribute on equal footing with the people in the room. That is a higher bar than we had three years ago, and it is exactly the inclusivity gap that AI in Microsoft Teams Rooms is designed to close.
SD: How is AI already impacting today’s workspaces?
IB: Visibly, AI is delivering experiences like Cloud IntelliFrame, which uses smart per-person framing so every remote participant can clearly see everyone in the room. What may not be as obvious is how AI improves audio, removes noise, and helps IT teams keep thousands of rooms healthy through the Teams Rooms Pro Management portal. Add Microsoft Places on top, and organizations are starting to use intelligence to shape strategic decisions about their real estate footprint.
SD: How important is AI to the future of Microsoft Teams?
IB: AI and agents are becoming foundational to the future of work, and work happens in Teams. Our view is that the power of Teams is realized when it becomes the place where you collaborate not only with your human coworkers, but with your AI coworkers as well. AI is being woven into every part of the experience—channels, meetings, calls, and chats—and into every Teams Room, so the intelligence travels with the conversation regardless of where you join from.
