It seems like every week there’s a new AI tool promising to be the ultimate co-pilot for product managers. We can now automate PRD drafts, summarize user feedback in seconds, and generate a dozen user stories before our coffee gets cold. The efficiency gains are undeniable.
But this new reality is forcing a critical conversation: are we automating the right things? The role of a PM has never been about simply processing information efficiently. It’s about building deep user empathy, sensing the nuances in customer interviews, and synthesizing disparate information into a coherent strategic vision. My concern is that by outsourcing the “grunt work,” we might be unintentionally distancing ourselves from the raw materials that build true product intuition. When an AI summarizes feedback, do we lose the emotional context? When it drafts our specs, do we skip a crucial step in critical thinking?
The goal should be augmentation, not abdication. We need to use AI to clear the path so we can spend more time on the uniquely human, high-leverage parts of our jobs.
What’s one task you’ve successfully offloaded to AI, and what’s one core PM activity you believe should never be automated?