Is Artificial Intelligence (AI) coming after Product Manager jobs? Should PMs be worried that they'll be replaced? The answer might be surprising.
While some fear that AI may reduce the need for product managers (PMs), industry leaders, including Lenny Rachitsky (author of Lenny's Newsletter and Podcast on building product, driving growth, and accelerating PM careers), argue that the role will not only endure but also evolve in meaningful ways.
For example, as AI automates data-heavy tasks, PMs will be free to focus on strategy, creativity, and leadership. But there's more to the story.
And that's why Nick Paladino and I dedicated an entire episode of The Frictionless Experience to debate AI's impact on product management.
AI excels at parsing large datasets, uncovering patterns, and delivering actionable insights. This means that product managers will increasingly rely on AI for decision-making support, particularly when it comes to analyzing user data, market trends, and competitive landscapes.
However, as Nick emphasizes, while AI can assist in making "incremental benefits in some specific products because AI helped you figure that out," it won't fundamentally replace the human element in strategy development.
And as Lenny Rachitsky mentions in his LinkedIn post, AI will significantly impact skills like data fluency, but the role of the PM is not disappearing. He adds, "PMs will continue to be the 'glue' or 'conductor' who tie everything together."
In this sense, AI becomes a tool that helps PMs focus on interpreting data and making strategic decisions rather than doing all the legwork.
Nick reinforces this idea, stating:
"AI can help to figure out where some value is in some ways that AI is going to open up and I otherwise would have missed it. But that doesn't mean I've answered that and replaced that core competency."
In other words, AI offers valuable assistance, but the product strategy still requires human intuition.
AI's ability to prioritize features and identify opportunities based on data means that product roadmaps can become more dynamic and data-driven. AI will likely assist in tasks like setting goals and determining feature priorities, allowing PMs to make more informed decisions.
Nick touches on this, noting that AI can "create a reasonable goal" and even "a contextual goal" based on data. However, the true impact comes when PMs apply their expertise to craft a strategy that goes beyond the numbers.
AI might give you a draft roadmap, but as I say"
"The magic comes with looking at all the hierarchy of needs, hierarchy of opportunity… that's where the art of product management lies."
While AI can aid in drafting, it is still up to the PM to fine-tune the roadmap, factoring in business goals, user needs, and the competitive landscape.
One area where AI shines is in gathering and analyzing user feedback.
AI tools can automatically collect and process vast amounts of data, whether from customer surveys, online reviews, or behavioral analytics. This allows PMs to quickly identify pain points and opportunities for improvement.
During The Frictionless Experience episode, Nick and I describe AI as a tool that can make research "more effective" by helping PMs get more out of their feedback. AI can make data gathering more efficient by analyzing user interactions, automatically surfacing insights, and allowing PMs to focus on higher-level analysis.
As Nick states:
"AI can make my feedback aspect more effective by understanding what my users are doing and reading the interactions that they have on the actual user experience."
Although AI can enhance the process of gathering feedback, we warn that it won't replace human analysis entirely. The real value comes when PMs apply human intuition to AI-generated insights, turning raw data into actionable improvements that resonate with users.
With AI handling repetitive and data-driven tasks, product managers will have more time to focus on strategic thinking and creativity. As Nick points out, "AI fundamentally is trying to make us more efficient."
This means AI can take over routine tasks, allowing PMs to focus on what they do best:
Lenny echoes this sentiment, noting that AI will impact the high-value skills of PMs, including "strategy, vision, discovery," but it won't replace the need for human creativity and intuition. In fact, he suggests that soft skills like influence, creativity, and empathy will become even more valuable in the AI-driven future.
As I mention during the episode, the real value of AI is that it "frees up the product managers from the repetitive tasks" so they can focus on strategic decision-making. Meaning that while AI might reduce the overall need for PMs, the PMs who remain will take on more strategic roles, overseeing broader portfolios and driving more impactful product innovations.
AI's ability to boost efficiency means that fewer PMs may be required to manage the same workload, or alternatively, more products can be managed by the same number of PMs. As Nick notes, AI could reduce the number of PMs because "now I am more efficient. I'm doing more than I otherwise would have done."
This doesn't mean the role of the PM is under threat. Instead, as Lenny mentions, AI will allow companies to build more products and innovate faster than ever before. PMs will still be needed to handle the more complex, strategic tasks that AI cannot replace.
Nick and I touch on this idea, with Nick noting that while AI will make product managers more efficient, it won't fully replace them: "Will it be able to replace the role of product management? Not in a million years."
The future of product management will involve PMs using AI to take on more products and deliver even greater value to their organizations.
AI will undoubtedly change the role of product managers by automating data-heavy tasks, providing deep insights, and enhancing the feedback loop. However, AI cannot replace the creativity, empathy, and strategic thinking that define successful product management. As Lenny noted, "PMs will continue to be the 'glue' or 'conductor' who tie everything together."
The real challenge for future PMs will be learning to balance AI's powerful insights with their own human intuition to create products that resonate with users.
Nick sums this up perfectly: "AI isn't doing that task for you. It's not coming up with the strategy." So, while AI is here to stay, the role of the PM will remain central to product success, requiring a thoughtful blend of data-driven insights and human creativity.