Meg Flippin

Thu, May 21, 2026

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From factory floors to operating rooms, the future of work is getting a tech upgrade, but it won’t be how Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg imagined, reports trade publication Human Resources Director.

Zuckerberg's Metaverse was supposed to transform the way we work, melding VR and mixed reality to create a digital office environment where the boundaries between physical surroundings and digital tools disappear.

But four years after changing its name to Meta, the company began scaling back its VR ambitions to pivot toward artificial intelligence in January, according to media reports.

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While that may have killed Zuckerberg’s dream of a working world in which employees become avatars in virtual boardrooms, it hasn't stopped a new approach to how we work from emerging.

Spatial Computing Could Be The New Frontier Of Work

Known as spatial computing, it melds AI, augmented reality, virtual reality, mixed reality, digital twins and wearable interfaces, to integrate both the physical and digital environment in real time.

With spatial computing, workers are able to interact with digital objects as if they were in a physical space. While the technology hasn't landed on human resources departments' radars yet, it is moving from the experimental phase to real-world applications, HRD reported.

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Spatial Computing Use Cases

Burrus Research CEO Daniel Burrus reportedly told HRD that most "compelling use cases" for spatial computing are showing up in a handful of industries including healthcare, manufacturing, engineering, defense and training environments. That's because it enables access to real-time data, remote collaboration and a risk-free environment to test and master complex and high-cost procedures.

Take the operating room for one example. With spatial computing a surgeon in one location can guide a nurse in a different location through a complex procedure using augmented reality, said Burrus.

Or leveraging digital twins, researchers from around the world can gather in a virtual environment to interact with molecular structures and simulate new drug compounds in real time.

In a warehouse or factory, spatial computing can be used to run simulations and work out potential problems before building the facility in the real world, according to HRD.