AI is advancing at a remarkable pace, rapidly reshaping how we work, communicate, and collaborate. While headlines on AI often fixate on concerns about mass job displacement or dystopian AI takeovers, a surprising statistic has emerged.
The Pulse of Work in 2025: Trends, Truths, and the Practicality of AI, a recent study by GoTo, suggests that employees increasingly believe AI will render physical offices obsolete.
Indeed, 51% of respondents believe AI will replace traditional workspaces with flexible, location-independent environments powered by intelligent automation.
This sentiment reflects growing confidence in AI's ability to eliminate the geographic constraints that have defined work for generations. But what would a world without offices actually look like? And, more importantly, why do workers believe this future is inevitable?
To find out more, we spoke with Rich Veldran, CEO of GoTo, about AI's role in reshaping workspaces and what this means for the future of collaboration.
Why Employees Believe Offices Are Obsolete
The conviction that AI will eliminate physical offices stems from employees seeing the everyday benefits it brings to their workflow. The GoTo study showed that over three-fifths feel AI will allow them to work from anywhere without losing productivity, and more than 60% believe it will improve their collaboration with colleagues.
Such ideas about increased efficiency and collaboration mean many believe this will end the debate between the gains of being in the office versus those at home.
Veldran explains how this "stems from a belief that AI's ability to streamline workflows and maintain high performance across different locations could ultimately remove the need for physical offices altogether."
"For example, they estimate AI could save 13 hours a week by taking over routine tasks and more."
These aren't marginal gains. Saving 13 hours weekly represents more than a quarter of a standard workweek. When employees see AI eliminating such significant portions of routine work, it fundamentally changes their perception of where they need to be to accomplish their jobs.
The belief that the office will be obsolete reflects broader lifestyle aspirations of the participants. Seven in 10 employees believe AI would improve their work-life balance, and 62% would choose AI-powered remote work over office-based roles.
These figures highlight that flexibility and AI have become tightly linked in employees' minds, with the technology viewed as the enabling technology that makes location independence genuinely viable rather than merely tolerable.
Where AI Falls Short Today
Despite optimistic employee sentiment, significant obstacles prevent AI from delivering on its promise to eliminate offices.
A striking disconnect exists between IT leadership and employees regarding how effectively AI currently supports remote and hybrid workers.
While the study highlighted that 91% of IT leaders feel AI effectively supports distributed workers, only 53% of employees agree.
This gap reveals fundamentally different perspectives on what "effective" means in practice.
"The gap reflects mismatched perceptions of AI mastery,"
Veldran explains.
"While 49% of IT leaders say their teams lack practical AI skills, an even higher proportion of employees (82%) feel the same way. Nine in ten employees also believe workers aren't receiving proper training, compared with 59% of IT leaders."
This disparity is more pronounced in smaller organizations, where 46% of employees admit they don't know how to harness AI effectively, versus 30% at larger organizations.
The divide also stems from differing standards for measuring success; IT leaders consider smooth deployment as effective, whereas employees judge value by whether tools deliver tangible benefits in their daily work.
Beyond training deficits, current adoption rates reveal that implementation isn't progressing as quickly as enthusiasm might suggest.
