The New Office Oddity: Co-Workers Dictating Everything Into AI
Real advancements in voice-to-text AI let people ditch keyboards to dictate emails and code. But will talking to your computer at work ever feel normal?
Illustration: Mia Oberländer for Bloomberg Businessweek
At some companies, the whispering begins with a single employee, and then spreads from there. Gooseneck microphones start appearing on desks as a growing number of workers forgo keyboards to murmur instructions to their computers instead.
Until recently, voice-to-text software never worked quite right. Now it’s become viable thanks to advances in artificial intelligence that take the messiness of speech and package it into something more useful. “Voice mode” is gaining traction with early adopters drawn inexorably to the promise of ever-greater productivity. Dictating emails and reports rather than typing them means, as one startup selling the technology promises, you can do everything “at the speed of thought.” The tools also benefit workers with disabilities, as well as software developers trying to give chatbots the kinds of detailed directions they require.