Over the past three decades monitors have colonised desks in workplaces, homes and in public spaces, with the presence of a screen often signalling that something productive is taking place. This assumption may now be under quiet revision with implications for technology, management, and workplace culture. The growing maturity of artificial intelligence agents is having an incremental but significant impact on how we work. AI is now more capable of carrying context across tasks, acting independently, and responding through natural language, which is leading to the need for visual interfaces to be reduced. If scheduling, communication, analysis, and recall can be handled by systems that operate through conversation or ambient cues, the screen starts to look less essential and more habitual.
The shift is unlikely to be fast or absolute. Early efforts to remove the screen altogether have failed to gain traction. Devices such as the Humane AI Pin, which offered a form of voice-first, wearable computing, fell short in both performance and clarity of purpose. These failures do not invalidate the trajectory, but they do remind us how embedded the screen has become, not just as a tool, but as a cultural anchor. Over the next decade a gradual transition may unfold as organisations experiment with low-screen or screen-optional modes of work, particularly where AI agents can manage routine operations.
A timeline for change
AI’s impact is likely to remain modest over the next few years, with the screen continuing to be the primary interface for AI agent supported tasks such as meeting summarisation, message filtering, and scheduling. Between 2026 and 2029, changes may become more structural. Agent-led workflows will begin to replace some manual processes within internal operations. Office environments may evolve to support voice-based collaboration and devices will start to shrink in visual prominence. The phone may also become more peripheral than central.
By the early 2030s, screen-optional workplaces could begin to appear at scale especially for sectors where information flows quickly and face-to-face interaction remains central. In such environments the screen will no longer be assumed, it will be used when needed but no longer serve as the visual anchor of every task.
In a work environment where screens are not the primary focus, the ways offices are designed and how work is organised will change too. Desks will no longer need to be centred around fixed monitors and meetings may become less focused on shared slides and more on structured conversation. Acoustic privacy will take precedence over visual barriers and collaboration will rely more on presence, gesture, and dialogue than on shared displays.
Challenges to consider
The change is not purely technical. It is also architectural, social, and cognitive. Furthermore, change will not unfold evenly. Some employees will find new energy in a more fluid and voice-led environment. Others will find it difficult to focus without a visual structure. These differences are not generational and instead depend on temperament, task and role.
Businesses are placing increased emphasis on collaboration and the creation of spaces that encompass more than working at a desk behind a screen. The office layout will continue to be shaped by different working practices as they continue to evolve in conjunction with more advanced AI agents and technology. To be successful, organisations will need to continue this commitment to support a wide range of working styles and areas to suit, rather than declare a new default.
Some tasks, particularly those that involve visual complexity, spatial reasoning, or technical precision, will always require a screen. The assumption, however, that meaningful work must involve looking at a screen is going to change. A quieter form of computing is starting to take shape and if sustained, it will change not only how we work, but how work feels. The question is not what replaces the screen, but what becomes visible once it fades. Workplace design and fit-out has a key role in shaping this future and to keep pushing the boundaries of what the office can be, with or without screens.
June 9, 2025
Rise of AI gives us a chance to rediscover a world beyond the screen
by Anthony Brown • AI, Comment, Workplace design
The shift is unlikely to be fast or absolute. Early efforts to remove the screen altogether have failed to gain traction. Devices such as the Humane AI Pin, which offered a form of voice-first, wearable computing, fell short in both performance and clarity of purpose. These failures do not invalidate the trajectory, but they do remind us how embedded the screen has become, not just as a tool, but as a cultural anchor. Over the next decade a gradual transition may unfold as organisations experiment with low-screen or screen-optional modes of work, particularly where AI agents can manage routine operations.
A timeline for change
AI’s impact is likely to remain modest over the next few years, with the screen continuing to be the primary interface for AI agent supported tasks such as meeting summarisation, message filtering, and scheduling. Between 2026 and 2029, changes may become more structural. Agent-led workflows will begin to replace some manual processes within internal operations. Office environments may evolve to support voice-based collaboration and devices will start to shrink in visual prominence. The phone may also become more peripheral than central.
By the early 2030s, screen-optional workplaces could begin to appear at scale especially for sectors where information flows quickly and face-to-face interaction remains central. In such environments the screen will no longer be assumed, it will be used when needed but no longer serve as the visual anchor of every task.
In a work environment where screens are not the primary focus, the ways offices are designed and how work is organised will change too. Desks will no longer need to be centred around fixed monitors and meetings may become less focused on shared slides and more on structured conversation. Acoustic privacy will take precedence over visual barriers and collaboration will rely more on presence, gesture, and dialogue than on shared displays.
Challenges to consider
The change is not purely technical. It is also architectural, social, and cognitive. Furthermore, change will not unfold evenly. Some employees will find new energy in a more fluid and voice-led environment. Others will find it difficult to focus without a visual structure. These differences are not generational and instead depend on temperament, task and role.
Businesses are placing increased emphasis on collaboration and the creation of spaces that encompass more than working at a desk behind a screen. The office layout will continue to be shaped by different working practices as they continue to evolve in conjunction with more advanced AI agents and technology. To be successful, organisations will need to continue this commitment to support a wide range of working styles and areas to suit, rather than declare a new default.
Some tasks, particularly those that involve visual complexity, spatial reasoning, or technical precision, will always require a screen. The assumption, however, that meaningful work must involve looking at a screen is going to change. A quieter form of computing is starting to take shape and if sustained, it will change not only how we work, but how work feels. The question is not what replaces the screen, but what becomes visible once it fades. Workplace design and fit-out has a key role in shaping this future and to keep pushing the boundaries of what the office can be, with or without screens.
Anthony Brown is Chief Marketing Officer at BW@Workplace Experts