Keyboards Headed for Extinction as Gen Alpha Embraces Voice Tech

According to a recent report from the London School of Economics and Jabra, the humble keyboard is set to vanish from the workplace by 2028 as voice technology becomes the default mode of communication and work for the next generation of workers.

The study, led by Professor Michael Muthukrishna, predicts that the rise of AI tools and voice transcription software will make typing obsolete within the next three years. By the time Gen Alpha, born after 2010, enters the workforce around 2030, most will never have experienced an office where typing is the default.

Surprisingly, the report found that older workers were actually more eager to adopt voice technology than their Gen Z counterparts. While currently only 14% of people surveyed prefer speaking to typing when using AI tools, researchers expect this number to grow rapidly in the coming years.

However, the shift to voice-based work may come with some drawbacks. The report notes that people who used voice controls performed 20% worse than those who typed on certain tasks, likely due to the challenge of articulating complex thoughts aloud. Privacy and data security concerns were also raised by participants, who worried about speaking sensitive information in open-plan offices.