It started with the pandemic, but AI has taken over as the biggest disruptor to the office environment.

 

A new survey has revealed that employers will need fewer workstations as the use of artificial intelligence replaces desk-based jobs and offices will increasingly become places where people gather to share information and meet in person.

 

Global design firm Hassell’s latest global survey of office workers shows the proportion of Australian office workers using AI once a week or more – for tasks such as writing, research and admin – jumped from 30 per cent to 46 per cent compared to the previous year.

 

 According to Hassell’s Workplace Futures Survey 2025, nearly two-thirds (63 per cent) of respondents said they would have done those tasks themselves at desks if they had not used AI. 

 

“There’s less need for that desk-based work if that desk-based work now sits in a data centre somewhere,” Hassell head of research Daniel Davis told the Australian Financial Review.

 

“The thing that’s not getting automated is meetings, boardroom events, presentations, online calls – and that work might be the work that ends up being the purpose of the office,” he said.

 

PHOTO: Hassell