AI and the future of work — An inside look at our strategy 

Kiley Reynolds is the Chief Technology Officer at OfficeSpace, bringing his passion for innovation, implementation expertise, and experience leading global remote development teams to his role. Under the direction of Reynolds and in collaboration with product leaders, our teams continue to offer strategic guidance and intuitive tools to organizations as they navigate the hybrid workplace, including by leveraging generative AI.

Below, Reynolds discusses how instant reports and predictive analytics are shaping the future of offices, and what’s next for generative AI in the workplace.

AI and office management

From the start, our vision at OfficeSpace has been to integrate AI into our platform to create smarter, more efficient workplaces. Today, artificial intelligence is driving innovation and predictive capabilities that transform how companies manage office spaces. 

I’ll never forget the moment when I realized that generative AI was set to transform the future of work. During a demo of our AI-driven Workplace Intelligence feature, it became clear that artificial intelligence wasn’t just an enhancement—it was a revolution. The ability to instantly generate insights about office space usage through natural language queries was a powerful reminder of how far we’ve come from our initial vision of AI development at OfficeSpace Software.

AI adoption by our clients

One of the leading technology providers in the hospitality industry leverages Workplace Intelligence multiple times a day to inform their real estate strategy and workplace experience. By analyzing attendance trends through the Presence by Type report, they can adapt their in-office policies, making data-driven decisions for their evolving work environment.

Workplace Intelligence is becoming essential to our enterprise clients, with many using it daily for critical decisions that shape their real estate strategies and workplace experiences. 

Separately, our AI-powered chatbot, Ossie, has also seen widespread adoption, embraced by 91% of our accounts, with over 71,000 users relying on it to streamline the workflow and automate repetitive tasks. While Workplace Intelligence provides deep insights into office space usage, Ossie leverages large language models like those in Google’s Gemini to facilitate natural language conversations, similar to ChatGPT. Imagine a future where these two powerful tools converge, allowing users to ask Ossie for office attendance forecasts or query usage trends for specific sites, and instantly receive data-driven predictions. This integration will ultimately empower clients to optimize space usage and plan for the future with unprecedented accuracy.

The role of Google and Bytecode in our AI strategy

Our partnership with Google and Bytecode is essential to making this vision a reality. By combining Google’s cutting-edge Gemini models with Bytecode’s direction on utilizing Looker’s powerful analytics capabilities, we’re unlocking new possibilities in workplace management. These partnerships allow us to deliver real-time insights and predictive analytics directly within chat-based interactions, making it easier for clients to harness AI without diving into complex data models.

This collaboration goes beyond technological integration—it’s a strategic alliance that fuels our AI roadmap. Together, we’re pushing the boundaries of what AI and machine learning can achieve in workplace management. With Google’s advanced AI models and Bytecode’s expertise in data strategy, we’re introducing capabilities that not only analyze past data but also anticipate future needs. This predictive power is key to helping organizations optimize their office space and plan ahead for a more agile and dynamic work environment.

The benefits of AI-driven innovation in the workplace

Integrating AI into hybrid workplaces goes far beyond cost and time savings. AI’s true value lies in its ability to transform the workplace at a higher level:

Fostering Innovation: By automating routine tasks and providing deep insights, AI frees up employees to focus on innovation and creative problem-solving, fostering a culture of continuous improvement.

Enhanced Decision-Making: AI systems provide real-time, data-driven insights that empower leaders to make smarter decisions, whether optimizing space usage or planning future office layouts.

Improved Employee Experience: AI tools like Ossie significantly enhance the employee experience, offering personalized and intuitive services that reduce friction and allow employees to focus on high-impact work.

Scalability and Flexibility: AI-driven systems easily scale and adapt to evolving needs, especially in hybrid workplaces where the balance between remote and on-site work can shift rapidly.

Sustainability and Resource Optimization: AI optimizes energy use and reduces waste by analyzing space utilization and employee behavior, leading to more sustainable choices.

Risk Management and Compliance: AI helps identify potential risks and ensures compliance with workplace regulations, such as monitoring occupancy levels to adhere to health and safety guidelines.

Ethical AI and the future of work 

In the realm of AI, not all large language models (LLMs) are created equal. The ethics of an LLM can be influenced by factors such as the quality and diversity of its training data, the transparency of its development process, and the intentions behind its deployment. For instance, models like those used in Stable Diffusion, trained on datasets like LAION, raise important questions about the use of data and the potential for bias.

At OfficeSpace Software, we’re committed to practicing ethical AI. Our policy, which you can read more about here, outlines our approach to ensuring that our AI tools are developed and used responsibly. As leaders in this space, it’s our responsibility to set a precedent for how AI should be talked about and leveraged, always prioritizing the well-being of our clients and users.

We approach generative AI with caution, recognizing that while the technology itself is powerful, it’s the human element, and human workers, that drive its true value. By keeping the focus on how our teams and clients can use AI to enhance their work—rather than on the technology for its own sake—we ensure that our AI-driven tools remain aligned with our core values of transparency, integrity, and user empowerment.

What’s next for automation and the future of work 

In 2023, Forbes published a piece on AI and the future of work, addressing fears of job losses with the advent of what was then a new technology (though gen AI has been around since as early as the 1960s). Forbes emphasized a role reversal: “We’ll soon be the ones assisting machines, not vice versa.” The outlook on this technological advancement is centered around the productivity gains possible with gen AI, and the potential to create new jobs and career paths, not fewer. 

The future of gen AI in the workplace is equally promising. Our partnership with Google and Bytecode is opening up new possibilities for using AI and machine learning to predict office usage patterns and anticipate future needs. This capability will revolutionize how organizations plan and manage their workspaces, making them more efficient, adaptable, and in tune with the evolving needs of their employees.

If you’re curious about how AI can transform your workplace, check out our recent blog posts, or dive into Google’s latest article on connecting Gemini and Looker for deeper insights.

As we look ahead, our focus remains on innovation and responsible AI use, ensuring that the tools we build not only meet the needs of today’s workplaces but also pave the way for a brighter, more efficient future.

Follow Kiley on LinkedIn for more insights on gen AI and the future of work. 

Request an OfficeSpace demo and learn how you can transform your workspace with AI-enriched workplace insights.