AI and Product Management - A Product Breaks Live Recap
During a recent Product Breaks Live, we took a deeper dive into product management and AI. How will product management change? What predictions do people have? And what trends are we finding already?
The first key takeaway from the session was the importance of bringing people together to discuss this topic. Not only was attendance high, but the conversation was engaging and there were a variety of opinions on display. It’s clear that most, if not all, the attendees had started to use AI in some capacity on an almost daily basis - whether it was using it to streamline their own work, or as part of the product they are working on.
While the original topic we had set out was “What Do PMs Need to Know About Managing AI Products?”, we found the conversation to be wide-ranging. Here are some of the key takeaways and discussion points:
What does the impact look like?
The overall agreement was that AI has had, and will continue to have, a major impact on our roles. How much of an impact was less easy to agree on.
Some saw AI as a complete rehaul akin to things like Agile or DevOps, where we will see a huge restructure and change to how our roles are shaped, as well as new roles being formed and responsibilities shifting largely. There were even question marks raised as to whether it makes sense to reposition oneself as an ‘AI Product Manager’ to get ahead.
Equally, some felt the biggest impact may be elsewhere. An interesting observation was around the impact of AI on UX and whether we have to rip up the guidebooks and change the principles of UX with this tool becoming more and more available. Ultimately it’s hard to tell where the biggest changes will come, but it was clear that everyone felt it’s something that PMs will have to work with moving forward rather than being a flash in the pan.
Is the focus currently too narrow?
An observation shared by many was that AI has not reached its full potential, and some shared concerns around how it is positioned currently.
Many noted that the most common implementation for AI at the moment is in the Chatbot space. While this is not the case for all AI products, there was a feeling that the creativity of approach is currently lacking and the focus of boosting chatbots may not yield the best results.
Equally there were some concerns around business strategy and AI. As is often the case in tech, when the decision-makers are in the business realm and don’t know enough about real world implementations, it can cause issues further down the line. The decision to turn to AI as a business can feel slightly divorced from the day-to-day reality of actually putting it in place.
There was a feeling that many businesses are racing to create AI products so that they don’t feel left behind, rather than finding the business need and using it as a solution. There was a concern that AI may just feel like a hot-button issue, rather than exploring the possibilities it can have for a business.
Changing our jobs and our mindsets
Upskilling in the wake of new technologies is always to be expected, and it’s no different with AI. Many participants agreed that an important change to our role is staying abreast of what is going on under the hood. While PMs are unlikely to be the SME on a piece of tech such as GPT, it will be expected that we understand data structures and realistic use cases for AI.
An interesting viewpoint from a participant was around how we position AI in our day-to-day use. Too much dependance on it can have negative effects on your output, while avoiding it completely can leave you in the rear view mirror. Framing AI as a ‘colleague’ rather than a ‘tool’ is how one of the contributors chooses to frame it, which sparked some discussion around whether this is the best approach to take.
Additionally, concerns were raised about the pace of technology shifting and staying on top of it. There seemed to be an agreement that AI is coming in thick and fast and we have already seen some major shifts in a short span of time, meaning it’s more important than ever to be staying in the know.
Equally there are new risks that Product Managers need to be aware of when AI tools are used by the public, whether they are brand and business-related or data and governance risks. It’s often a new landscape and uncharted territory, so being risk averse is crucial for utilising the technology.
Ethics and Morality
Finally, questions of ethics are never far away when the topic of AI is raised. There was also a lively discussion on how we can ethically use AI, and more importantly whose responsibility it is to ensure a business uses it correctly.
A mutual ground seemed to be found that, while it may not be the PMs role to enforce ethical usage or enforce policy, it’s certainly in our space to be raising the conversation and is not something we should be turning a blind eye to.
In addition to ethics alone, the question of environmental impact was raised. Given some recent reports, including some alarming figures from Google in recent weeks, it’s no wonder this was at the front of people’s minds.
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Ultimately it was a lively and fruitful session, and it’s clear how many people are impacted by AI in their current roles and feel the need to embrace it. The question marks lie over how and what to embrace, as well as concerns around its usage.
Product Breaks Live is an arm of Product Breaks where we bring people together from different backgrounds for interactive remote events, from webinars and presentations to open-forum discussion groups such as this one.
We’re always looking for ways to improve these sessions: have any feedback from the last one? Any suggestions for our next PB Live? Want to get involved? Give us a shout in the comments below!