15. AI for PMs: Disruption or Partnership?

Will AI Replace Product Managers? A Deep Dive into the Future of PM Work

Mar 14, 2025

Welcome to 9to5.exe!

If you’ve been following my writing, you might notice a change—No Office Required is now 9to5.exe. While the name has changed, the mission stays the same: deep insights into the future of work, remote teams, global hiring, and the evolving role of AI in the workplace.

Why the rebrand? I wanted a broader identity that grows with the space I write about. The way we work is shifting faster than ever—whether it’s how AI is reshaping knowledge work, how companies are hiring across borders, or how async-first cultures are changing productivity. This newsletter will continue to explore these shifts, challenge assumptions, and share actionable insights.

Thanks for being here. Let’s dive in.

AI is changing how we work, and product management is no exception. While some believe AI will replace PMs, others see it as a tool to make them more effective. The reality is somewhere in between.

PMs juggle strategy, execution, stakeholder management, and data analysis. Some of these tasks are repetitive and data-driven—AI can handle them well. Others require creativity, judgment, and negotiation—things AI struggles with.

This post breaks down PM responsibilities into granular tasks and evaluates where AI can fully take over, where it can assist, and where human skills remain essential.

For example, I used AI’s assistance to write this post. AI made it a lot easier and efficient — all I need to do is think of general direction of the content.

Some assumptions used in this thought exercise:

This is mostly applicable to existing PM orgs in large-ish companies. The PM orgs of companies that are getting started will look very differently.
AI is evolving fast. Many “Human-assisted” task can easily become “AI-Led”. But I believe the “Human-Led” tasks will largely stay unaffected (for at least a 5 year horizon).

AI-Led = Minimal human interaction, mostly or fully done by AI
Human-assisted = Some human interactions, but AI has significant impact and time saving capabilities.
Human-led = Some AI impact, primarily done by humans.

AI will drastically expand a PM’s capacity. Instead of managing one or two products, PMs will be able to oversee multiple products at once. AI will handle execution-heavy tasks—roadmap updates, PRDs, backlog prioritization, and data analysis—freeing PMs to focus on strategy, stakeholder alignment, and decision-making.

This efficiency boost will reduce the number of PM job openings. Companies will need fewer PMs to manage the same workload. Entry-level roles, in particular, will shrink as AI takes over many of the responsibilities that junior PMs typically handle.

However, PM jobs won’t disappear—they’ll become more powerful. PMs who understand how to leverage AI will drive bigger initiatives, manage more complexity, and influence company strategy at a deeper level. The role will shift from execution-heavy to decision-heavy.

My brain:

Don’t say it…

AI won’t replace PMs. But PMs who don’t use AI will be replaced by those who do.

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Memos by Sooraj

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