AI startups are turning offices into pricey call centres where everyone mutters at software and pretends it is normal.
One venture capitalist told the Wall Street Journal that visiting AI startups today feels like arriving at a high-end call centre, except everyone is chatting with AI.
Engineers at credit-card startup Ramp sit at their desks wearing gaming headsets, talking loudly to their AI assistants.
Gusto co-founder Edward Kim has urged staff at the human-resources outfit to experiment with dictation tech, telling them the office of the future will sound “more like a sales floor.”
Kim is trying to set an example.
“I’m talking to my computer all the time now, and I don’t type unless I absolutely have to,” he said.
The snag is that talking to yourself still looks odd and can feel a bit embarrassing.
At home, “you kind of feel like Tony Stark talking to Jarvis. At the office, “it’s just a little awkward,” Kim said.
Users try to keep their voices down and often wear headphones to block out their dictating neighbours, reducing the irritation factor.
Dictation is hardly new, but until recently, it was not good enough to handle basic tasks without making a mess.
Apps such as Wispr can now edit text in near real time, improving grammar and tone as users talk.
Those features have helped Wispr earn a cult following. LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, a power user, has called himself “voicepilled.”
The most enthusiastic users have bought programmable foot pedals, a gaming accessory, to activate Wispr with their toes.
Others keep $60 gooseneck microphones, the bendy sort used by sports broadcasters and pastors, on their desks.
As the practice becomes more common, AI dictation apps are multiplying.
Early contenders such as Aqua Voice and Willow, both Y Combinator-backed companies, have been joined by TalkTastic, Typeless and Superwhisper. Wispr’s move into dictation was something of an accident.
Founded in 2021, the company originally planned to build a wearable device with a neural interface to capture brain signals. The idea was to let users control a computer or smartphone without reaching for the keyboard.
Wispr founder Tanay Kothar said that eventually, Wispr built a Bluetooth earpiece that felt like “pure magic.” The only problem was that demand failed to materialise, causing the team to be cut from 40 to four, all focused on the dictation tool.
Early last year, as developers embraced vibe coding, hype around Wispr’s dictation app started to build. Wispr raised fresh funding in the autumn, valuing the company at roughly $700 million. It now has about 60 staff.
“They just walk around the office talking to their computer. They don’t have to do their thinking sitting in front of a desk anymore.”
Kothari insists this will feel normal eventually.
“When the BlackBerrys came, staring at a piece of metal in your hand and doing things with it would look crazy to people, but now it’s normal,” he said.
