Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know there’s been a lot of hype lately around AI and its ability to write code, build prototypes and create websites faster than any human. Online, doomsayers predict the end to product teams within the next decade, or sooner. But is that realistic?
This year, VCs have been fawning over “tiny teams” of 10 people or fewer that have hit millions in ARR within months, using AI to power product development, customer service and even marketing. OpenAI’s chief Sam Altman even predicted there could be a one-person company one day worth $1bn.
Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke made a splash when he told employees in a leaked memo that using AI is now a “fundamental expectation” — with designers and developers called upon to use the tech to speed up everything from coding to prototyping. Other companies have followed suit, such as Duolingo, which announced on Monday it will become an “AI-first company”, with AI embedded into its working practices, as well as its product.
In a world where even coding novices are building businesses with Lovable and Bolt, some onlookers are predicting a significant leaning-out of product teams.
Others predict the product manager role could evolve to become the manager of an army of AI agents.
“I envisage a future where AI agents design, research (for example by running interviews with thousands or tens of thousands of potential users) and collaborate (for example with other agents providing different services) to produce software,” says Luke Ferris, founder and CEO of OriginAI, a platform helping users build web-based software via a product team of AI agents.
That means product teams will “transform immensely,” thinks Ferris.
“Rather than building the product, AI product managers would spend most of the time ensuring compliance topics were met and that the strategic direction adhered to values,” he observes. For example, a product manager working for an autonomous car company would oversee “whether automotive agents were correctly collaborating with agents running traffic in connected smart cities.”
Perhaps rather optimistically (perhaps not), some product people speculate that developer roles may be wiped out in the near future, but the job of product managers, who come up with creative concepts and lead on product strategy, may be immune to extinction — if they adopt AI.
“I wouldn’t say the PM job will be completely automated,” says Yenny Cheung, VP of product at conversational AI and WhatsApp marketing platform Charles. “For the people who make that claim, the product job is probably a bit misinterpreted as a project manager job — because in the end, we need to critically think through things. You need to know what you want first to get the productivity improvement out of these LLM tools.”
If anything, she adds, AI elevates the PM job as it takes care of all the “boring stuff.” For example creating a prototype in a wireframe format used to take two to three hours; now it takes 20 minutes with AI tools.
“If you spend less time on mundane tasks… you can spend more time on the human stuff, like meeting with customers, which is very important. There’s a very human aspect to understanding what [the client] wants and what their pain point is,” she says.
Some product managers think the pace of change brought about by AI isn’t as fast as people think.
“I think the transition is very slow in some companies, even if there is a push from C-level,” says Joao Mira, a former product manager at Doctolib. “It’s very difficult when working in an organisation to say ‘Hey, I’ve built this prototype with AI.’ Everyone will look at you and ask, ‘why didn’t you use your designers?’ There’s a feeling that if you use AI tools, you might be seen as less of a PM.”
He has observed, however, that companies are hiring for far less junior roles — and senior roles are required to have five to eight years of experience rather than two to three previously. This could work out badly for organisations in the future, he thinks: “How do you renew staff and get new blood into an organisation?”
Regardless of how soon the role of product managers and teams will change, Mira says it’s important for professionals to “upskill to become more of a generalist, and be ready to take on many hats.”
In applying for jobs recently, he’s noticed companies are asking PMs for AI experience — so he’s developing his own language learning app on Lovable to become a more attractive candidate.
“I think it’s very helpful to go through all the stages of developing an app to understand what the struggles of a designer are, the struggles of a developer, and understand a little bit more of how things are done,” he says. “That can only be helpful for you in the future.”
Cheung agrees, suggesting that actions like the Shopify mandate and leaders challenging managers over headcount will only increase. “That’s why I’m bullish on using AI tools,” she says. “It’s better to be at the front of the curve rather than behind it.”
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