Get ready for the whisper-filled office of the future

How will work setups change if we spend more and more time talking to our computers? A recent feature in the Wall Street Journal looks at the rising popularity of dictation apps like Wispr, especially now that they can be connected to vibe coding tools, and what that might mean for office etiquette.

One VC said that visiting startup offices now feels like stepping into a high-end call center. And Gusto co-founder Edward Kim is apparently telling his team that in the future, offices will sound “more like a sales floor.” (As someone still scarred from the time his desk was briefly relocated to a sales floor, let me say: Oh no.)

Kim claimed that he only types now when he absolutely has to. But he admitted that constantly dictating in the office can be “just a little awkward.”

Similarly, AI entrepreneur Mollie Amkraut Mueller said her husband became annoyed with her new habit of whispering to her computer, so their late-night work sessions now involve sitting apart, or “one of us will stay in our office.”

But Wispr founder Tanay Kothari insisted that this will all seem “normal” one day, just as it’s become normal to spend hours staring at your phone.