By Vaibhav Verma

Can AI Replace Product Managers? Wrong Question.

Everyone's asking: "Will AI replace product managers?"

It's the wrong question. Here's why.

Product management is judgment. What problem should we solve? Who's the customer? Is the market real? Can we win?

These are judgment calls. AI doesn't make judgment calls. Humans do.

What AI can do: collect data, analyze patterns, surface insights, automate analysis.

That helps PMs make better judgment calls. It doesn't replace judgment.

What AI Can Do in Product Management

1. Analyze User Data

AI can:

• "Here's what your users are doing most"
• "Users in Segment A are churning at 2x the rate of Segment B"
• "Feature X gets used by 40% of users, but drives 10% of revenue"

AI surfaces patterns. PMs interpret what they mean.

2. Understand Your Codebase

Glue analyzes your product:

• "Here's what you've actually built"
• "Here are your integrations"
• "Here's your architecture"
• "Here's what competitors have that you don't"

AI extracts knowledge from code. PMs use it to make decisions.

3. Organize Information

AI can:

• Summarize customer interviews
• Extract themes from feedback
• Organize competitive intelligence
• Create roadmap summaries

AI handles information. PMs interpret significance.

4. Generate Ideas (Bad Ones)

AI can generate feature ideas:

• "Add dark mode"
• "Support more integrations"
• "Improve search"

But these are obvious ideas. Not strategic ideas. PMs generate the ideas that matter.

What AI Cannot Do

1. Understand the Market

AI can tell you what customers are doing. Not whether they're the right customers.

A PM might look at usage data and think: "We're spending engineering time serving a market segment that's not our target. Let's cut that."

That's judgment. AI can't make that call.

2. Make Tradeoff Decisions

"Ship Feature A fast with poor UX, or Ship Feature B slow with great UX?"

AI can list pros and cons. A PM decides based on strategy, competitive positioning, and market timing.

AI doesn't have strategy.

3. Build Vision

Vision is: "Here's what the world should be. Here's how we'll make it. Here's why we're uniquely positioned to do it."

AI can't build vision. Humans can. Great PMs build vision.

4. Take Risk

A PM decides: "We're entering a new market even though we're not ready. We're betting we can learn fast enough."

That's a bet. With risk. AI doesn't take bets.

5. Build Trust

Engineers trust PMs because they understand constraints, ask good questions, and respect expertise.

AI doesn't build trust. Humans do.

Where AI Actually Helps

1. Remove Busywork

Instead of spending 5 hours analyzing competitor features, Glue does it in 5 minutes.

Now the PM spends that 5 hours on strategy instead of research.

2. Surface Data You'd Miss

"Here's a correlation you didn't notice: features used by Segment A drive disproportionate revenue for Segment B."

AI finds patterns humans would miss.

3. Enable Faster Iteration

Instead of waiting for engineering to answer a question, Glue answers it instantly.

Now the PM can iterate on strategy faster.

4. Enable Confidence

When decisions are grounded in data (extracted by AI), the PM can explain them confidently.

"We're prioritizing this because...", backed by data, is more persuasive than guessing.

The Real Question

Instead of "Will AI replace PMs?" ask:

"How will great PMs use AI to make better decisions?"

Great PMs will use AI to:

• Understand their product faster
• Find patterns they'd miss
• Remove busywork
• Make faster, data-driven decisions
• Focus on judgment, not analysis

PMs who don't embrace AI might become obsolete. Not because AI replaced them, but because competitors using AI are making better decisions faster.

The Skill Stack Shift

Today's PM skills:

• Knowing your product
• Understanding your market
• Analyzing data
• Writing specs
• Managing priorities

Tomorrow's PM skills (with AI):

• Asking the right questions
• Interpreting data (even if AI found it)
• Building vision
• Making judgment calls
• Managing relationships

Analysis becomes less important. Judgment becomes more important.

PMs who are good at analysis but bad at judgment will struggle. PMs who are good at judgment will thrive, because AI handles the analysis.

Why It Matters

This shift is good for product teams:

1. PMs focus on strategy, not busywork. Better decisions.

2. Engineers get fast answers. Without interrupting the team.

3. Companies move faster. AI-empowered PMs make decisions faster.

4. Quality improves. Decisions are grounded in data, not guesses.

The Threat

The real threat to PMs isn't AI. It's: "My judgment is bad because I don't have data."

If a PM makes bad decisions because they don't understand their product, they're in trouble.

But that PM was already in trouble. AI just makes it visible.

Great PMs will get better with AI. Bad PMs will get exposed.

Getting Ready

If you're a PM, here's how to prepare:

1. Embrace data. The more you use data in decisions, the more AI helps.

2. Understand your product. Use Glue to deeply understand your codebase. Now you can make informed decisions.

3. Focus on judgment. Spend time on strategy, vision, and tough decisions. Let AI handle analysis.

4. Build relationships. Trust is the foundation of influence. AI doesn't build trust.

5. Ask better questions. The better your questions, the better insights AI can surface.

AI is a tool for PMs who are willing to use it. It makes good PMs great. It doesn't replace them.

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Frequently Asked Questions

If AI can analyze data, why do we need PMs? Because interpretation requires judgment. AI can find patterns. PMs decide what the patterns mean and what to do about them.

Will AI-powered startups disrupt our market? Possibly. If they use AI better than you. Not because AI replaced humans. Because they made better decisions, faster.

Should I learn to use AI tools? Absolutely. The sooner you understand what AI can and can't do, the faster you can leverage it. Start with tools like Glue that understand your codebase.