Microsoft, Amazon, Coca-Cola rework offices for AI age

The panel remarks come as large employers are already making visible workforce moves that intersect with real estate decisions. Microsoft this week offered voluntary buyouts to about 60,000 employees, more than a quarter of its global workforce, on top of 4,800 layoffs announced in July. Amazon, for its part, announced last year it would cut 14,000 corporate positions and plans to cut as many as 30,000 more. Against that backdrop, the executives described AI as a tool that changes not just how many people come to the office but what they do when they are there.

For Amazon's real estate and facilities team, the shift has been rapid: AI usage jumped from roughly 7% in January to more than 90% this month, which Sean Lee said frees up bandwidth for higher-level thinking and more face time with clients. Citadel, meanwhile, has not cut jobs because of AI and is building two large office towers in Miami and New York, with Chief Workplace Officer Paul Darrah calling in-office culture a competitive advantage. Coca-Cola's Terri Lasoff framed the change as an extension of hybrid work: fewer 'me spaces,' more 'we spaces,' with AI potentially reinforcing that trend.

The common thread is that AI is being asked to take over routine production tasks — building decks, writing reports — so that office time can be used for collaboration and client work. Whether that dynamic spreads across the broader office market may depend on how quickly companies outside the tech and finance sectors adopt similar tools, a shift the executives suggested is still in its early stages.