lobby verification

Lobby verification in Microsoft Teams refers to the process of identifying and managing external third-party bots that attempt to join meetings. A planned update, expected by May 2026, will label these bots in the lobby, requiring meeting organizers to explicitly admit them. This change aims to give organizers clearer visibility into non-human attendees before they enter the conversation, enhancing security and control over meeting access. The feature builds on Teams' evolution into an AI-augmented collaboration platform where bot integration is common, making lobby verification a key tool for managing automated participants.