Quote of the day by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman: 'One of the tech industrys worst mistakes in a long time was that everybody could go full remote forever' closing the doors to pandemic-era flexibility

Date:
Sun, 05 Jul 2026 22:00:00 +0000

Description:
Despite championing remote working, the technology industry was among the first sectors to row back on this new era

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Much of the global economy was able to continue functioning during the COVID-19 pandemic thanks to a host of cloud-enabled technologies that powered a new way of remote working. However, the technology industry which initially championed this new approach to work
has aggressively rowed back on it. I think definitely one of the tech industrys worst mistakes in a long time was that everybody could go full remote forever, and startups didnt need to be together in person and, you know, there was going to be no loss of creativity. I would say that the experiment on that is over, and the technology is not yet good enough that people can be full remote forever, particularly on startups." Sam Altman, May 2023 The new normal Sam Altman, who leads OpenAI, clarified his stance on remote and hybrid working during a fireside chat in San Francisco organized
by the startup Stripe. Quote of the day This article is part of TechRadar Pro's QOTD project to provide an insight into the minds of the brightest and most recognized figures in the technology industry today and in years gone
by. Read the full series here . During the conversation, he echoed the views of many in tech that remote working was a failure framing it as an
experiment that went wrong rather than a new kind of normality that most of the tech industry was enabling, let alone simply buying into. Latest Videos From Watch full video here:

Despite several studies suggesting productivity gains and higher employee wellbeing, the logic states that fully remote teams struggle to deliver products in a timely way and that corporate culture erodes. Surveillance and tracking is also much harder. RTO mandates Dozens of companies in the tech industry have instigated return to office (RTO) mandates, bringing workers back in-house full-time rather than even adopting a hybrid approach. You may like OpenAI CEO admits AI job replacement prediction was wrong Work in 2026: the future of flexible tech Sam Altman says AI won't lead to a 'jobs apocalypse'

Amazon , Dell and Tesla are just three companies that have adopted five-day mandates, while several companies have also adopted four-day and three-day mandates.

Although these companies have decided to bring employees back into the
office, the future of work in the tech landscape will remain fragmented, disjointed and varied not just between companies but within companies. Depending on how this trend continues, it could carry ramifications for the design of offices as well as the nature of training and progression. Are you
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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/quote-of-the-day-by-openai-ceo-sam-altman-one-of -the-tech-industrys-worst-mistakes-in-a-long-time-was-that-everybody-could-go- full-remote-forever-closing-the-doors-to-pandemic-era-flexibility


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