One of the largest stories in corporate America is the rapidly expanding footprint of artificial intelligence firms. Last year, AI and tech companies leased 55% of the office space in the Bay Area, a striking 14 million square feet. And in New York City, AI leasing has helped drive a resurgence in overall office activity. With massive IPOs planned for Anthropic and OpenAI, there are expectations that well-funded frontier labs will gobble up even more space.

But there’s a parallel shift happening across myriad other industries that may impact how clients ask architects to design offices. As more people incorporate AI tools into their jobs, the technology may reshape the physical layout of offices, challenging designers to consider how workspaces will evolve.

Less screentime, more mobility

Perhaps surprisingly, hands-free AI tools and interfaces require less screen time and make workers more mobile. That’s why “the workplace is way more fluid than just the idea of moving some furniture around to support different postures,” said Michael Villegas, a director at IA and a coleader of the firm’s AI research practice group.

And while it’s still a nascent technology with substantial questions about its ultimate effectiveness, AI “is a major tool that's going to shift the way that we work [and] the way that our workplaces are designed,” believes Selin Ashaboglu, media relations manager at Gensler.