312 years after first ‘typing’ patent, SAP CEO says prepare for 'Death of Keyboard'

In 1714, English engineer Henry Mill submitted a patent for a “machine transcribing letters”. This laid an early foundation for the technology that would eventually lead to the typewriter and modern keyboard. More than three centuries later, SAP CEO Christian Klein believes another shift could be coming, this time driven by artificial intelligence (AI).Klein says employees may stop entering business data by typing within the next two to three years as voice recognition and AI agents become more capable. “The end of the keyboard is near,” he told Fortune. He believes employees will increasingly use voice commands to ask analytical questions, trigger workflows and enter information into enterprise software. For SAP, the shift could change how businesses interact with their core systems.​SAP CEO says keyboard era could be ending​Klein says AI-powered voice recognition has already become strong enough to handle many tasks.