AI-Enabled Executive Office
Your desk already has a computer. This adds a second one, and its only job is to be the assistant you speak to. Press one key, ask what your day looks like or what a proposal in your inbox actually says, and the answer comes back on the screens and through the speakers.
The short answer
An AI-enabled executive office is a room wired so that a second computer runs an AI assistant you speak to out loud, while the workstation you actually work on stays untouched. The build is a screen array or a projector, a cardioid podcast microphone, room speakers, a wireless keyboard and mouse, acoustic treatment where the room needs it, and a push-to-talk key that opens ChatGPT or Claude on the assistant machine. You press the key and ask what the day looks like, what a proposal sitting in your inbox actually says, or where to take a client to lunch, and the answer comes back on the screens and through the speakers. The assistant machine runs on its own network segment with its own credentials, because a computer with a live microphone and mailbox access in an executive's office is a security decision before it is an audio-visual one. This is a new NetSys offering, scoped per room, across the on-site coverage areas we publish.
What the room looks like
This is a visualization of the build, not footage of an installed room. It is a new offering and we are not going to dress a render up as a delivered project. The parts in it are the parts described on this page.
Most attempts at an AI office put the assistant on the same computer you work on, which means alt-tabbing into a chat window, typing a question and reading the answer. That is not an assistant, it is another app competing for the same screen.
Here the assistant has its own machine, its own screen space and its own voice. Asking it something costs a key press rather than a context switch, and the answer arrives out loud while you carry on with what you were doing. The work computer never leaves the work.
Why a security firm is building this
A machine with an always-available microphone and access to an executive mailbox is the most sensitive endpoint in the building. It sits in the room where board calls, salary conversations and deal terms happen. We treat it that way: its own VLAN, its own credentials under privileged access management, a hardware mute on the microphone rather than a software one, and a written decision about which mailboxes, drives and systems the assistant may reach. An audio-visual integrator will hang the screens beautifully. The question of what that machine can hear and what it can read is the part we are equipped to answer.
What the build involves
The room hardware
Off-the-shelf parts, specified per room rather than sold as a kit.
- A screen array, commonly four panels driven as one desktop, or a projector where the wall suits it better
- A cardioid podcast microphone on a boom, positioned to pick up the chair and not the room
- Powered desk or shelf speakers, so the assistant answers out loud rather than through a headset
- A wireless keyboard and mouse that switch between the two machines
- Acoustic panels where the room is live enough to hurt recognition, which is most hard-walled offices
The push-to-talk key
One key, not a wake word.
- A programmable macro keypad on the desk: press to talk, release to send
- Work Louder and OpenAI ship a Codex Micro keypad with status lighting and a workflow joystick, which is one way to do this
- No always-listening wake word unless you ask for one, because a wake word means the microphone is always open
- A hardware mute the microphone honours, within reach of the chair
The assistant machine, treated as an endpoint
The part that makes this a NetSys build rather than an AV install.
- Its own network segment, so a compromise there is not a compromise of your workstation
- Its own credentials under privileged access management, not your personal login
- A written scope: which mailboxes, drives and systems the assistant may reach, agreed before it is connected
- Endpoint detection and response on it like any other managed device, and it stays patched
- Full-disk encryption, because the machine holds a transcript of what gets said in that room
What you actually say to it
The reason to build the room, rather than the specification of it.
- What does my day look like, and which of these meetings are video calls
- Open the proposal from the vendor and tell me what changed since the last version
- Find somewhere near the office to take a client at one, and check it against my calendar
- Turn the deck from Tuesday into a summary I can send tonight
- Read me the thread about the renewal and tell me who has not replied
How a build runs
Five steps, in this order, so nothing gets bought before it is measured.
- A room visit: we measure the wall, listen to how live the room is and check what the power and network runs will take
- A conversation about what you want to be able to ask it, because that is what decides which systems it needs to reach
- A written scope for the assistant machine, agreed before anything is connected, covering what it may open and what stays off limits
- Procurement, wiring, mounting, then the two machines built and the network segment cut
- A tuning session in the chair with you, since microphone gain and screen layout get set with the person who will use the room
What we do, and what we do not
Worth being plain about before anyone quotes anything.
- We do the wiring, the hardware, the two-machine setup, the network work and the AI enablement
- We are not an architecture firm and not a general contractor, and we do not pretend to be
- Where a room needs construction, we work alongside your architect or GC rather than in place of them
- We can procure the hardware or integrate what you have already bought, whichever suits
- Every room is scoped on its own, because a corner office and a converted conference room are different jobs
Why bring this to NetSys
Fifteen minutes with a NetSys engineer, not a salesperson, and you will know where your ai-enabled executive office stands and what it would take to fix it. Call 845-203-3914 or book the call and we will come back with it in writing.
- The assistant machine is an endpoint with a microphone in your most sensitive room. We have run business networks since 1998 and the security stack is in every agreement, so the isolation, the credentials and the monitoring are not an afterthought bolted on at the end.
- The AI practice is in-house, led by Jamie Baum, so the same firm that wires the room also configures what the assistant can reach and how it behaves. There is no handoff between an AV vendor and a separate AI consultant.
- Privileged access management and privileged identity management are already part of the base agreement, which is exactly what a second machine holding delegated mailbox access needs.
- One month-to-month agreement can cover the room and the rest of your IT, so the assistant machine is patched, monitored and backed up like everything else rather than becoming the box nobody owns.
- We will tell you when a room is a bad candidate. A glass-walled office on a trading floor is a hard microphone problem, and we would rather say so before anyone buys panels.
AI-Enabled Executive Office FAQs
What is an AI-enabled executive office?A room where a second computer runs an AI assistant you talk to out loud, on its own screens and its own network segment.
It is a room wired so a second computer runs an AI assistant you talk to out loud, while the workstation you work on stays untouched. The room has a screen array or projector, a podcast microphone, speakers, a wireless keyboard and mouse, and a push-to-talk key that opens ChatGPT or Claude on the assistant machine. You press the key, ask a question, and hear and see the answer without leaving what you were doing. The assistant machine runs on its own network segment with its own credentials.
Do I need two computers for this?Yes, and the separation is the point: the machine with the live microphone is not the desktop you work on.
That is the design, yes. Putting the assistant on the machine you work on turns it into another window you alt-tab into, which is the thing this is meant to replace. A second machine gives the assistant its own screens and its own voice, so asking it something costs a key press rather than a context switch. It also means the machine with a live microphone and delegated mailbox access is separate from your working desktop, which matters more than the convenience does.
Is the microphone always listening?No. It opens when you hold the key down and closes when you let go.
Not unless you ask for a wake word, and we would push back on that. The default is push to talk: the microphone opens when you press the key and closes when you release it. There is also a hardware mute within reach of the chair, which cuts the signal at the microphone rather than asking software to be trustworthy. In a room where board calls and salary conversations happen, an always-open microphone is a risk we would rather not design in.
What can the assistant actually reach?Only what you agree in writing before it is connected, delegated through Microsoft 365 rather than through your own login.
Whatever you agree in writing before it is connected, and nothing else. In practice that usually means a named mailbox, a set of document libraries and a calendar, delegated through Microsoft 365 rather than by handing over your own login. The assistant machine holds its own credentials under privileged access management, so what it can see is reviewable and revocable without touching your account. We put that scope in the build document.
Does this work with ChatGPT, Claude or Copilot?All three, and the assistant machine can run more than one of them.
All three, and the choice usually comes down to what your business already pays for and what data is allowed to leave. Copilot is the shortest path when your documents and mail are in Microsoft 365 already. Claude and ChatGPT are stronger for open-ended reasoning and for custom agents we build on top. The room does not care which one you use, and the machine can run more than one.
How much does an AI-enabled executive office cost?It is scoped per room, and the scope and the number go in writing before anything is ordered.
It depends on the room, so we scope it rather than list a price. The variables that move the number are the screens or projector, whether the room needs acoustic treatment, whether we are procuring the hardware or integrating what you have, and how much network work the building requires. We put the scope and the number in writing before anything is ordered. The AI configuration and the ongoing management can sit inside a month-to-month agreement.
Can you build this in an office we do not own?Usually, since most of the work sits inside your own suite rather than in base building systems.
Usually. Most of the work is inside your own suite and does not touch base building systems, though a leased floor can mean the landlord wants a certificate of insurance and a scheduled freight window before anyone runs cable. We deal with that as a matter of course in multi-tenant buildings. Where the build needs real construction, we work alongside your architect or general contractor rather than in place of them.
Is this available outside New York?The physical install follows our published on-site coverage, and the AI configuration runs remotely anywhere.
The room build needs hands, so it follows our published on-site coverage: the five boroughs, Long Island, Westchester, the lower Hudson Valley, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and Florida. Further out, the physical install is scoped per engagement when we quote. The AI configuration and the ongoing management run remotely wherever you are.
Related services
Talk to us about building one of these rooms.
Send us the room and what you want to be able to ask it out loud, and we will come back with a scope: the screens, the microphone, the two machines, the network work and what the assistant would be allowed to reach. Nothing gets ordered before that is in writing.