The office of tomorrow is going to sound absolutely bonkers. According to a TechCrunch deep dive, tech founders are becoming obsessed with dictation apps like Wispr, and the result is offices that now resemble "high-end call centers" filled with people muttering to their computers.
Edward Kim, co-founder of Gusto, is leading the charge. He now claims that offices of the future will sound "more like a sales floor"—and he's already stopped typing unless absolutely necessary. But he admits that constantly dictating in the office is "just a little awkward."
Kim isn't alone. AI entrepreneur Mollie Amkraut Mueller has embraced the whisper-to-your-computer lifestyle so thoroughly that her husband got annoyed with her. The solution: they now work apart during late-night sessions, or "one of us will stay in our office."
Wispr founder Tanay Kothari insists this will all become "normal" one day—just like staring at your phone for hours became normalized. Just like we all thought we'd be cool with video calls permanently etched into our daily lives.
One venture capitalist visiting startup offices now feels like they're stepping into a telemarketing nightmare. Except instead of scripts about extended car warranties, it's engineers whispering code into thin air.
Tech's biggest names are turning their offices into something that sounds vaguely dystopian. The 2026 workplace might be a symphony of awkward murmurs and uncomfortable silences.
