Let me be blunt: today’s product management is broken. A few years ago, product managers were hailed as the “mini-CEOs” of tech, the glue between engineering, design, and business. Today? Too many PMs have morphed into bottlenecks with a Jira login. They ignore leadership guidance, competitive analysis, and user research data, and often become a source of chaos and drama rather than driving clarity and decisions. They fail to grasp the basics of the AI-driven product design and instead drown teams in ego-driven pet projects.

The ugly truth about your average PM

Ask any UX designer or dev lead, and you’ll hear a common tale of woe about typical PM pain points:

• Poor documentation: Many PMs can’t write a decent Product Requirements Document (PRD) to save their lives. Enough clarity at the level at which the project can be executed? Nope. Basic documentation and progress reports on the intranet? RACI? MIA. Including basic market and user research in the proposal? Fuhgeddaboudit!

• Decisions that routinely ignore user needs: PMs ignore UX research, personas, and customer feedback, charging ahead with gut feelings over facts. Some PMs will routinely ignore the bulk of user research data in favor of some singular outlier they “saw” or something they heard (and misinterpreted) the customer say in the only research session they bothered attending. (That is if they bother attending even a single research session!)

• Feature flop factory: Far from being able to grasp the incredible opportunity afforded by AI, PMs greenlight their pet features on a whim – even when ROI calculators scream red. PMs often lack basic business acumen (some don’t even speak the language of ROI or Product-Market Fit). Emotional bias and personal preference often trump mountains of evidence. They do not listen to the team and refuse to change their mind in the face of overwhelming evidence.

• Siloed, stressed, and out of touch: Instead of aligning teams, they operate in silos, forget to update teams of changing focus and neglect to update leadership on research findings and pivots. They lack vision for building out the AI-driven product roadmap. They lack a basic understanding of AI capabilities, which Data is available for the AI model, and often reject the overall premise of the User-Centered Product Development process.

• Lackluster leadership: Great PMs inspire and communicate; average PMs? Not so much. Many struggle to rally teams or articulate a compelling vision. Often, they try to “divide and conquer” to play political games, but sometimes keeping their teammates ignorant is just the result of poor leadership acumen, being fundamentally disorganized or lacking organizational awareness.

• No KPIs/Success Metrics: PMs routinely fail to communicate the answer to the key question: how do we know that we are successful? And how will this project’s success be measured?

Harsh? Yes. True? Also yes. 

Product management was supposed to drive vision and value, but in many orgs, it’s driving in circles. It’s time for a shake-up. Enter AI with zero ego, zero bias, and a a well-deserved reputation of regularly scheduled data-driven delivery. Replacing PMs with AI isn’t sci-fi; it’s a business move that makes sense today, because that removes the biggest under-performing bottleneck in a typical enterprise.  It’s not “shipping like a machine,” it’s a “machine that ships.”

Why AI PM

Here’s why an AI might just do a better job running your product roadmap than an average human PM:

1. No More Pet Projects — AI PM Doesn’t Play Favorites

Human PMs often champion “pet” projects no one else believes in. An AI PM, by contrast, has no favorite features or vanity initiatives – it cares only about the goals the leadership sets and the data provided through research. The result is fewer rogue detours and more focus on what truly moves the needle. Consider this: 80% of features in the average software product are rarely or never used​ (https://www.pendo.io/resources/the-2019-feature-adoption-report/#:~:text=Based%20on%20an%20aggregation%20of,have%20been%20spent%20on%20higher)

That colossal waste comes from human guesswork and ego-driven bets. An AI PM would cut that bloat by 10X overnight. AI PM has no ego – when the data indicates walking away from the project makes more sense, it will kill low-value ideas before they soak up a single sprint, sticking to features with data-backed justification. Fewer useless features means saved budget and time for things users actually want.

2. Zero Ego, Zero Ghosting — AI PM is Always On for Stakeholders

Ever had a PM disappear on you? Stakeholders left in the dark, team members and leadership wondering about status updates? All familiar political shenanigans. AI PM doesn’t ghost anyone. It doesn’t get defensive or push back just because its pride’s on the line. There’s no “my way or the highway” fights with an AI; it takes feedback and adapts without the drama. With an AI running product management, communication becomes consistent and transparent. Stakeholders ask a question, they get a detailed, evidence-based answer. Immediately. Adjustments to scope or timeline are met with a recalculated plan, not an argument. In short, no bruised egos, no silent treatment – just a steady flow of information and decisions based on facts. Fewer human errors and miscommunications translate to fewer fires to put out and zero cover-ups. It’s pure professionalism, sans the human antics.

3. No Personal Agenda — AI PM Listens to Leadership and Users

A common gripe in companies: PMs sometimes go rogue, pushing their own vision at the expense of corporate strategy or user needs. An AI PM has no personal agenda to prove. It will follow your leadership’s strategic directions to the letter and pivot instantly when the strategy changes. Did UX research just reveal that customers hate a planned feature? The AI PM will scrap it without a fuss – no stubborn attachment, no “but I think I know better” attitude. Every decision is aligned with data, user insights, and top-level business goals. This means finally a product manager that truly serves the product, not their ego. Your project’s value matrix, digital twin, persona pain points, and market trends – an AI PM will diligently factor them all into their decision. It’s an ego-free execution machine that makes decisions only on evidence and instructions given, ensuring the roadmap is always in sync with what leadership and users actually want.

4. Infinite Research. Zero Guesswork.

Think your PM really knows the market? That might have been the case, sometimes, 5 years ago. Today, you are lucky if your PM has a nebulous idea about how AI works or what a UX person does. An AI PM simply knows way more. It can consume and analyze vast amounts of research in a fraction of the time a human would take. Competitive analysis, market trends, user feedback logs – an AI-driven PM agent chews through that data 24/7 without coffee breaks. That means you get deep, research-driven insights on tap. Instead of relying on a PM’s perhaps limited analysis (or whatever conference hot-take they picked up on Instagram), you’ll have an AI continuously scanning the landscape for opportunities and threats. It’ll identify that your competitor’s new feature is getting traction before it’s common knowledge. It’ll notice patterns in customer reviews that hint at an unmet need. Every product decision can be backed by comprehensive intel. No more guessing or going on hunches – it’s all evidence-based. The AI PM becomes your ultimate research analyst, ensuring you’re never flying blind in the market.

5. Never Tired: PRDs, Tickets, and Schedules at Lightning Speed

Let’s talk execution. A great PM translates ideas into action – user stories, tasks, timelines. The average PM, however, spends days writing PRDs and updating Jira tickets (often poorly and days late). An AI has unlimited stamina for this stuff. It can auto-generate a clear PRD in seconds, breaking down epic ideas into well-structured requirements. It can spit out a prioritized Jira backlog without missing a single edge case. Heck, it can draft release notes and risk assessments while it’s at it. We’re already seeing glimmers of this: Jira’s built-in AI can draft user stories and task details in moments​ (https://www.atlassian.com/blog/artificial-intelligence/ai-jira-issues#:~:text=Jira%E2%80%99s%20generative%20AI%20in%20the,ensuring%20clarity%20in%20team%20updates)

Now imagine an AI fully owning the role – it takes corporate high-level vision and instantly turns it into a realistic development plan: every ticket, every deadline, auto-assigned and estimated. And it’s not just fast; it’s consistent and clear. It takes feedback. It answers questions. No more vague requirements or ever-slipping schedules. The AI PM updates the plan in real-time as things change, and it never forgets to notify the team. Your engineers and designers get to focus on building, not waiting on a PM to play catch-up on documentation. In other words, execution accelerates, and the usual product planning fatigue is a thing of the past.

6. Unbiased Prioritization — No Politics, Just ROI

Perhaps the biggest win with an AI PM? No more office politics in the roadmap. We all know how it goes: teams fight for resources, the loudest voice or highest title usually wins, and the truly valuable projects sometimes get sidelined. An AI doesn’t care about personalities or who’s buddies with the VP. It ranks initiatives by cold, hard numbers. Cost-benefit analysis, projected ROI, risk assessment – all done without bias. The result is a force-ranked list of projects that maximizes ROI, not someone’s personal glory or resume. That means an end to infighting for resources. When the AI says Feature A yields 10x more return than Feature B, it’s hard to argue – and even harder to manipulate. This level of objective prioritization creates a meritocracy in product planning. Good ideas rise to the top, bad ideas get killed early. No more HiPPO (Highest Paid Person’s Opinion) overriding the data; the AI PM is the data. The outcome? Better products, better profits, and far less wasted effort. Politics don’t stand a chance against an algorithm that just wants the best result. And if the research data does not fit the strategy? AI PM has no fear of being fired for disagreement! It will just go back to the leadership and report the facts and recommend adjustments and fast pivots to the strategy that reflect the updated market conditions and the latest research results. This “fast pivot” skill is becoming ever more essential in the age of AI, because increasingly, GA is but a starting gun.  

FAQs (Because You’re Probably Asking…)

Q: Can AI really do all of a product manager’s job?
A: Pretty much, yes – at least the core of it. Product management is largely about analysis, prioritization, and communication. AI already excels at crunching numbers, parsing data, and even generating natural-language updates. The “human” parts of the PM role (like creativity and empathy) can be supplied by the broader team – designers, engineers, leadership – while the AI handles the heavy lifting of coordination and decision support. In fact, if a PM’s day-to-day is mostly grooming backlogs, writing specs, and sending status emails, an AI can do 90% of that right now. And it won’t complain or take a vacation.

Q: Does this mean all human PMs get fired?
A: Not overnight. The smart product managers will evolve – and fast. They’ll become AI-enhanced PMs, using these tools to make better decisions and focus on truly human aspects (inspiring teams, evangelizing vision, coming up with creative solutions, etc.). The mediocre PMs, however, are in trouble. If your only contribution is defending your fragile ego, project management, and paperwork, the AI presents obvious advantages. It’s a wake-up call: level up to more strategic, creative contributions or watch an algorithm take over your task list. Companies will still value product leadership, but the definition of “Product Manager” is changing radically. The role will be less about being a taskmaster and more about being a strategy maestro (with AI as your assistant or, if you refuse to adapt, your replacement).

Q: Is this just about saving money on salaries?
A: Saving a six-figure salary is nice, but that’s not the main point. It’s about building better products. AI-driven product management means far fewer wasted features, smoother execution, and decisions grounded in objective data. Sure, the CFO will love reducing headcount, but the CEO will love that the company is shipping things people actually use (and not shipping things people don’t). Remember that 85% of AI-driven projects fail (https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2025/02/13/5-ai-mistakes-that-could-kill-your-business-in-2025/). That’s a huge waste and lost opportunity. An AI PM helps slash that waste. So yes, cost efficiency is a perk, but the real win is better ROI on product development overall.

Q: Was this written by AI? Is this another plot from our robot overlords to take over the world by pitting humans against each other?
A: This article was written through Augmented Intelligence of Greg Nudelman and Daria Kempka with a little help from our future AI PM robot overlords. The only losers in this human-machine war are increasingly those unwilling to explore the uncharted frontiers of eternally moving digital cheese bites.

Final Thoughts: Let AI Deliver the Roadmap

In the ocean of AI change, Product Management (as we know it today) is a sinking ship that is dragging down all of the passengers and crew. We’ve got talented UX and engineering teams straining against a broken model, held back by human PM bottlenecks, ill-informed biases, and ego-driven bullshit. AI can fix this. It’s not some dystopian takeover – it’s an upgrade to the very core of how we decide what to build and why. UX and engineering deserve better partners in this process, partners who don’t ignore them, who don’t drop the ball, who don’t let politics dilute the product. An AI product manager is exactly that partner: tireless, ego-less, unbiased, and laser-focused on team success, not politicking.

It’s time to hand over the wheel. Let AI deliver the roadmap. Embrace the change now, and watch your competition struggle to keep up. The message to every product leader, designer, and dev: demand better. The era of the ego-driven, seat-of-the-pants PM is over. A new, smarter era is here – and it’s nothing personal, it’s just business.

Let the AI revolution in product management begin.

Greg Nudelman and Daria Kempka (Contributing Editor), with a little help from your Friendly Local Robot Overlords.

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