• As more employees return to the office, some are being met with limited space — and bedbugs.
• While open floorplans are now in style, people used to sit in small cubicles.
• Offices used to have typing pools with dozens of typewriters. In 2025, we all have laptops.

Thanks to the popularity of shows like “Mad Men” and “Masters of Sex,” people love to see what offices have looked like over the past century … often through dense clouds of cigarette smoke.

Before email, Teams calls, and Slack, messengers wearing roller skates passed notes between office workers, while laptops were preceded by typewriters, calculators, and stacks of paper.

And while some office complexes for major firms today — think Nvidia’s futuristic office in Santa Clara or Apple’s Cupertino headquarters — feature vast atriums filled with trees or outdoor amenities like swimming pools and volleyball courts, some 20th-century office workers were lucky if they got a window.

These vintage photos of offices reveal how far companies have come in regard to technology, interior design, and even safety.

See what your office might have looked like decades ago.

One glaring difference between offices now and in 1940? Cigarettes were everywhere.

When Gallup polled US adults in 1944, 41% said they smoked — compare that to around 11% of US adults who smoked in 2022, per the CDC.

As such, in the mid-20th century, smoking was common everywhere, from grocery stores to homes to workplaces.

Technically, there are still some states where it’s legal to smoke inside an office — the only federal bans on smoking are on planes or in federal buildings.

However, you’d be hard-pressed to find an office building that allows people to light up at their desks.

Pipes were common sights as well. Today, offices have designated places outside for smoking.

The popularity of the traditional tobacco pipe has been steadily decreasing since the ’90s, though they’re making a comeback with hipsters, The Times of London reported in 2024.

Before every desk had a computer, there was more space to spread materials out.

This image of a design office in 1935 is a far cry from the tech-heavy workplaces of 2025.

An open-plan office used to look a little different.

Now, an open-floor office typically has giant tables with multiple stations at it, not individual desks.

Before electronic stock tickers made it possible to see the stock market in real time, employees printed out the news on ticker tape to distribute.

The last ticker tape machine was released in 1960 — they were first invented by Thomas Edison in the late 1800s.

Ticker tape has two legacies that live on in 2018. First, the stock prices running along the bottom of your TV screen are still called stock tickers. And second, ticker tape was given a second life when New Yorkers discovered that ticker tape made great confetti.

Ticker-tape parades still happen, but shredded paper is used instead.

It was a lot harder to transcribe calls back then.

This secretary appears to be writing down a conversation she’s having with someone on the phone, which she is listening to using a proto-speakerphone device.

Today, there are apps that can record a phone conversation, and headphones mean you don’t need to broadcast the conversation to everyone around you.

That telephone amplifier is also obsolete — most phones now have built-in speakerphones.

As technology advanced, every desk became equipped with its own typewriter.

The typewriter was invented in 1867 but didn’t become popular until a couple of decades later, during the Industrial Revolution. It became people’s job to record facts and figures, and the typewriter was the easiest way to do that.

They stayed popular for over 100 years.

Bookkeepers used a combination of computers, typewriters, and calculators.

If you take a closer look, you might notice that all these bookkeepers are women, a trend that’s still prevalent.

In 2022, 86.7% of bookkeepers were women, according to Data USA, which cited US Census Bureau data, so maybe not everything has changed.

When typewriters became obsolete, offices implemented computers and cubicles, which gave people a little privacy.

Cubicles first entered our lives in 1968, when they were invented by Robert Propst, who wanted to improve upon the typical open bullpen office. He thought cubicles would increase productivity and give workers privacy.

At first, cubicles flopped. But when companies realized that using cubicles would increase the number of people that could be crammed into a space, they really took off. The ’80s and ’90s were a booming time for cubicles.

Now, many offices have abandoned them in favor of the original open office space — just take a look at the offices of Shopify, DropBox, or even Business Insider.

However, there has been a more recent push to bring cubicles back.

Before email and Slack, some offices communicated via messengers who were given roller skates to speed up the process.

Probably due to violating dozens of workplace safety protocols, and the advent of computers, roller skating in the office is a thing of the past.

This office had a designated “tea lady” who would walk around providing refreshments.

Some offices still offer amazing perks.

Now, everything is digital and located in the cloud. But for years, all important records had to have physical copies.

This machine handled 80 individual record cards a minute — now, data can be uploaded to the cloud in seconds.

Phone booths seem so old-fashioned today.

These transparent ones still look cool, to be clear.

So do typewriters.

Maybe they’ll come back, though. As Business Insider’s Hannah Towey pointed out in 2021, physical media objects like records, typewriters, and film cameras were all in high demand.

Note the ashtray, rotary phone, and old-fashioned radio — it’s a far cry from what your typical desk looks like now.

It’s impossible to overstate just how different our workspaces used to be just 30 years ago.

It makes you wonder: How different will they be 10, 15, or 30 years from now?

• Year-over-year inflation rose to 3.0% in September from 2.9%, just below the forecast.
• The Bureau of Labor Statistics hasn’t published other key data releases during the government shutdown.
• The Federal Reserve’s next rate decision, informed by data like inflation, is next week.

The year-over-year inflation rate heated up to 3.0% in September, back to where it stood in January.

Economists expected last month’s rate to be 3.1% after an uptick to 2.9% in August.

Core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, also increased 3% over the year in September. It was also expected to be 3.1%, which would have matched rates in July and August.

Core CPI increased 0.2% over the month between August and September, short of the 0.3% forecast that would have matched July and August’s rates.

CPI increased 0.3% over the month between August and September, below the 0.4% forecast and the previous rate.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics was supposed to publish September’s consumer price index report on October 15, but the release was delayed when the government shut down on October 1. The shutdown, which is now the second-longest in US history, has affected the compensation and employment of many federal workers and some agencies’ operations.

“The delayed September CPI print showed slight stubbornness, primarily driven by goods inflation, with services inflation indicating signs of moderating,” Ryan Weldon, investment director and portfolio manager at IFM Investors, said.

BLS said the price of gas was the biggest factor in the monthly rise. That rose 4.1% over the month, way above the previous 1.9% increase. However, the gas index fell 0.5% over the year.

The food index rose 3.1% year over year. It rose 0.2% over the month, less than the previous 0.5% increase. Beef and veal prices rose 1.2% over the month but 14.7% over the year, the largest year-over-year rise since March 2022.

The BLS’s jobs report wasn’t published earlier this month due to the shutdown and hasn’t been rescheduled. The Fed is meeting on October 28 and October 29 to discuss rates, and given the lack of official data, they may use private data releases and previous jobs reports to understand how the labor market has been performing.

“In our view, the Fed is increasingly focused on supporting the labor market, especially as inflation risks appear transitory and tariff-driven,” a note from global financial services company Raymond James before the latest CPI report said.

Large companies and small businesses have been figuring out whether to increase prices, reduce head count, and make other business changes due to tariffs and economic uncertainty.

While the full picture of the job market remains murky, today’s CPI report at least gives Fed members some insight into prices. The Social Security Administration will also be able to use the fresh inflation figures to calculate and announce the annual cost-of-living adjustment for benefits.

The Fed cut rates for the first time this year in September, providing some relief to Americans’ wallets, and is expected to make another rate cut. CME FedWatch showed an overwhelming probability of a 25-basis-point cut next week and a slim chance that the range will be held steady.

With inflation ticking up less than expected and a soft job market, the Fed will likely cut rates again.

“This will be framed as an insurance cut, with hopes that by December the shutdown is over and the Fed has a clearer read on jobs,” Olu Sonola, the head of US economic research at Fitch Ratings, said.

Median inflation expectations for one year ahead increased for the third straight time in a New York Fed survey, rising from 3.2% in August to 3.4% in September.

• AI, AI, AI.
• Fried chicken, fried chicken, fried chicken.
• Which one matters more to you?

While the tech and finance world continues to debate whether we’re in an AI bubble, one thing is for sure: People love AI!

For proof, like no further than Apple’s App Store, where OpenAI’s ChatGPT app and its Sora video spinoff are atop the “free app” rankings, and …

Whoops? So maybe we love AI, but we love fried chicken more?

Answer: We love — or are at least interested in — both things. But the reason Dave’s Hot Chicken is currently at the top of App Store rankings — above Sora and ChatGPT — is really simple: This week, the fast food chain, which counted Drake as an early investor, gave away free sandwiches to anyone who used the app to order the sandwiches.

Cue lots of downloads, lots of press coverage, and funny scenes like this.

I’m not personally a big Dave’s fan. But at least one of my kids loves it, so I’ve been spending a lot of money on the hot chicken chain. I’m not saying that’s the reason the company was sold in a deal that valued it at $1 billion earlier this year. But it didn’t hurt?

But this is not a story about my discretionary spending. It’s really a story about how Apple’s App Store rankings work. Because while it’s reasonable to think that the rankings are measuring sheer popularity, that’s not the case: They are generally measuring recent velocity of downloads. (Apple doesn’t disclose its formula publicly, but developers have been making informed guesses about this for some time.)

So a hot new app that’s getting a flurry of downloads will rocket to the top — but that doesn’t mean it’s going to stay there.

If you see a top app stay at the top of the app rankings over an extended period of time — like ChatGPT has — then you’re likely seeing an app that has a lot of new downloads and a lot of overall downloads. That is a truly popular app.

But it also means you should exercise caution when a buzzy new app comes out and rockets to the top of the charts, as Sora has done in recent weeks.

Maybe that indicates that lots of people are using Sora all the time. But it could also mean that a lot of people are hearing about Sora — which is still technically limited to users who have invites — and are checking it out.

Whether they’re sticking around is another matter, and we won’t know about that for a while.

• Francis Ford Coppola is auctioning luxury watches from his personal collection.
• Coppola invested over $100 million in “Megalopolis,” which underperformed at the box office and left him broke.
• “I need to get some money to keep the ship afloat,” Coppola told The New York Times.

After selling two of his vineyards to help finance his passion project “Megalopolis,” director Francis Ford Coppola is auctioning off some of his personal possessions to make ends meet.

The legendary filmmaker behind “The Godfather” movies and “Apocalypse Now” took a major gamble when he invested over $100 million of his own money to self-finance his latest movie, “Megalopolis.” But with the movie only generating just over $14 million worldwide since it opened in theaters last September, he’s looking for cash to recoup his losses.

The answer? Auctioning seven of his luxury watches, including one Coppola designed himself that retails at $1 million, according to The New York Times.

“I need to get some money to keep the ship afloat,” Coppola, 86, told the Times. The auction will be done through Phillips, an auction site that specializes in watches, on December 6.

The most exclusive watch Coppola is selling is one he designed himself in collaboration with F.P. Journe, a Swiss watch company. Instead of conventional clock hands, the center features a glove hand. The fingers disappear and reappear in various configurations depending on the hour. It retails for $1 million.

The other watches include two Patek Phillipes, a Blancpain Minute Repeater, an IWC Chronograph, a different F.P. Journe, and a Breguet Classique. All range in estimated prices from $3,000 to $240,000.

Another path to recouping some of his money is licensing “Megalopolis” to streaming platforms, but Coppola has been reluctant to take that option, believing his epic sci-fi tale set in a futuristic New York City needs to be seen in theaters.

“Many of my films earn out over time,” Coppola told the paper, citing another gamble he took decades ago when he self-financed most of “Apocalypse Now.” That movie, now considered a classic, has gone on to sell millions of tickets, Coppola said.

The difference is, along with movie tickets, “Apocalypse Now” also generated revenue for Coppola through sales of physical copies in different viewing formats, from VHS to DVD to Blu-ray. Those avenues are either extinct or significantly less profitable today, so they likely won’t play a major role in helping “Megalopolis” get in the black.

Since the release of “Megalopolis,” Coppola has told various publications he is broke despite being in preproduction on his next movie, an adaptation of Edith Wharton’s novel, “The Glimpses of the Moon.”

“I don’t have any money because I invested all the money that I borrowed to make ‘Megalopolis,'” he said on the podcast “Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin” in March. “It’s basically gone. I think it will come back over 15-20 years.”

A rep for Coppola did not respond to requests for comment.

• Director Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein” debuted in select theaters this month.
• Del Toro said he wanted Victor Frankenstein’s “arrogance” to mirror tech bros.
• He also told NPR’s “Fresh Air” that he’d “rather die” than use AI.

Although “Frankenstein” is a fictional Gothic novel, director Guillermo del Toro took some real-world inspiration from Silicon Valley for his version.

During an interview on NPR’s “Fresh Air” podcast, del Toro said he wanted the film’s titular character — Victor Frankenstein — to mirror tech bros. Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein,” published in 1818, tells the story of a scientist who assembles a creature from corpses and brings it to life.

“I did want to have the arrogance of Victor be similar in some ways to the tech bros,” del Toro said. “He’s kind of blind, creating something without considering the consequences, you know? And I think we have to take a pause and consider where we’re going.”

The tech industry has gone all in on AI, which has rapidly advanced over the last several years. Startups like OpenAI helped make the tech more accessible with models like ChatGPT, forcing legacy companies like Google and Microsoft to play catch-up. In April, UN Trade and Development estimated that the AI market will hit $4.8 trillion by 2033.

Despite the tech industry’s excitement about AI, some critics have expressed concern over its impact on employment, the environment, human connection, and privacy, among other things. Some people, including Meta Chief AI Scientist Yann LeCun, have said the technology needs clear safety guardrails as it’s scaled.

During the interview, del Toro railed against AI. He said he’s not interested in incorporating the tech into his work.

“AI, particularly generative AI, I am not interested, nor will I ever be interested,” del Toro said. “I’m 61, and I hope to be able to remain uninterested in using it at all until I croak. I really don’t. The other day, somebody wrote me an email, ‘What is your stance on AI?’ And my answer was very short. I said, ‘I’d rather die.'”

A representative for del Toro told Business Insider that he had no further comment.

“Frankenstein” debuted in select theatres on October 17. The film will make its Netflix premiere on November 7.

• A former Nvidia engineer said anyone looking to upskill for AI needs to start by building.
• “Doesn’t matter what you build, as long as you do it end to end,” Chip Huyen told Business Insider.
• Huyen said in addition to building, engineers should master systems thinking.

A former Nvidia engineer says people looking to stay competitive in the age of AI need to start building now.

“Doesn’t matter what you build, as long as you do it end to end: starting from an idea and deploying it so that a friend can use it,” Chip Huyen, an AI researcher who worked on Nvidia’s NeMo platform and taught machine learning at Stanford, wrote to Business Insider.

Huyen’s advice extends beyond her fellow AI researchers and engineers. She said when she holds workshops for companies, it’s incredible to see what people without even a coding background can do, thanks to AI coding agents.

“After that, they become so much more confident in themselves and also have a much better understanding of AI,” she said.

If you’re stuck figuring out what to do, Huyen says she has a simple exercise.

“For a week, note down everything that frustrates you,” she wrote in a guide she shared with Business Insider. “Why is this taking so long? Why do I have to repeat this every single time? etc. For each of these problems, try to think about how to solve it. Then pick one problem to solve.”

Learning about the foundations of AI and how it works is also important, Huyen said.

“Learning only by building is like learning a new language only by speaking,” she wrote.

That’s why it’s imperative that those looking to upskill supplement their own AI exploration by learning about the tools they’re using.

“You should also bring structure into your learning, like picking a curriculum, books, courses,” she wrote.

If you’re looking for where to start, Huyen shared a list of AI-related resources with Business Insider that she compiled when writing her latest book, “AI Engineering.”

What computer science students should do

As for those studying computer science or engineers looking to expand their knowledge base, Huyen said the best thing they can do is master systems thinking.

“Coding is just a means to an end. CS is about system thinking, using coding to solve actual problem,” Huyen said during a recent episode of “Lenny’s podcast.”

Problem-solving will never go away, Huyen said, because as AI can automate more stuff, the problems will just get bigger.”

Huyen said that AI “can help automate a lot of disjointed skills,” but combining the separate knowledge to solve problems will remain difficult. She pointed to a webinar hosted by Stanford computer science department chair Mehran Sahami and Andrew Ng, founder of DeepLearning.AI and a former founding member of Google Brain, in which the pair discussed the future of CS. At the time, Sahami said that it is “critical for students to understand the code that’s generated” by AI tools.

In talking to companies, Huyen said that she is hearing examples of senior engineers spending more time reviewing code written by junior engineers. Across tech, the fear is that more junior engineering roles will be replaced as generative AI becomes more skilled at writing code itself. That’s why developing skills can help, Huyen said.

Companies “appreciate engineers who have a good understanding of the whole systems and be able to have good problem-solving skill, are thinking holistically instead of locally,” she said.