Dr. Gleb Tsipursky – The Office Whisperer
Nirit Cohen – WorkFutures
Angela Howard – Culture Expert
Drew Jones – Design & Innovation
Jonathan Price – CRE & Flex Expert
For years, our work habits have been dictated by the devices and interfaces we use. We type. We click. We format. We adjust ourselves to how machines operate.
So when generative AI tools came onto the scene, the initial reaction was to learn how to interact with them through new interfaces. We curated prompt libraries, enrolled in courses on prompt engineering, and even created job roles for prompt specialists.
But what if instead of issuing prompts, we could simply speak — and AI just understood?
We’re on the verge of a new era, where the keyboard is no longer the gateway to getting things done. Instead of typing, we’ll talk. And instead of training ourselves to understand systems, systems will learn to understand us.
They’ll operate quietly in the background, listening, adapting, and eventually responding — reshaping how we approach work.
From Commands to Conversations
In the digital era, being “good with technology” has often meant mastering how to navigate software — finding the right dropdown menu, entering the correct formula, or writing precise queries. We became proficient at giving input.
Now, the focus is shifting to communicating intent. When conversation becomes the interface, we don’t need to speak in code or commands. We talk the way we think. And AI systems work out what we mean.
“It takes you about four times longer to type something than to just say it,” explained Josh Blalock, chief evangelist at Jabra, on The Future of Less Work podcast. But it’s not merely a switch from typing to voice dictation — it’s a move away from conforming to how machines want us to think.
The formatting friction disappears, and we’re left with a more fluid, natural dialogue.
The Growth of Ambient AI
Voice isn’t the only way tech is blending more seamlessly into our work lives. Alongside it, ambient AI is gaining traction — technology that doesn’t wait for instruction but instead works passively in the background.
It listens. It watches. It steps in when useful, and fades out when not.
Ambient AI is what makes smart tools feel invisible. Think of a calendar that updates based on your behavior, a meeting assistant that transcribes and summarizes without needing prompts, or a system that pings you at the exact right moment because it understands the context. It’s a shift from interaction to anticipation.
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And this goes beyond easing our workflows. It also transforms the work itself, making it more intelligent.
Take Arthur Vibe, a collaboration AI designed to talk to employees and identify trends across conversations. It can perform root cause analysis in real-time by engaging everyone involved, asking thoughtful follow-ups, and surfacing genuine insights.
Punit Singh Soni, CEO and founder of Suki, highlighted this on The Future of Less Work. His company’s voice AI lightens the load of documentation for healthcare professionals, allowing them to focus more on their patients.
Soni described ambient AI as more than just voice — it’s about ever-present intelligence that picks up on cues from a person’s environment to elevate their experience.
Since ambient systems are multimodal — integrating voice, video, and digital footprints — they blur the line between the digital and physical workplace. Soni elaborated: “If we had ambient clinical intelligence that could listen and convert everything into structured documentation, extract diagnosis codes, prescribe orders — now the doctor can focus entirely on you and your health.”
Toward More Natural Workflows
These shifts promise more than a boost in efficiency. They signal a return to meaningful work. No more getting bogged down by emails, formatting, or learning new interfaces. Not everyone can write a perfect email or code a system query — but everyone can speak.
As voice and ambient tools advance, they’ll lower the bar for participation in the digital workplace. This means easier cross-time-zone collaboration, better multilingual support, and a more inclusive, human-first approach to getting work done.
These technologies aren’t coming; they’re already here. The real question is whether we’ll evolve our work environments to let people thrive with them.
That means designing systems that are intelligent but also mindful. Tools that don’t interrupt unnecessarily. AI that enhances human input rather than replacing it. Processes that support the best of what people bring to the table.
It’s not about cutting back on effort. It’s about eliminating the wrong kinds of work. Less time spent translating ideas into systems. Less overhead. Less friction.
That’s the real promise of this next evolution: technologies that adapt to how we work, not the other way around.
