As AI automates entry-level knowledge work, human roles will shift towards management. The critical skill will no longer be doing the work, but effectively delegating to and coordinating a team of autonomous AI agents. This places a new premium on traditional management skills like project planning and quality control.

Coinbase is eliminating pure people-manager roles, citing AI-driven productivity gains. Leaders are now expected to manage 15 or more direct reports—up from a previous cap of six—while also functioning as individual contributors, signaling a major shift in corporate structure.

Airbnb's CEO predicts that AI's ability to bring leaders closer to data and details will make the "pure people manager" obsolete. Everyone, especially leaders, will need to be hands-on with the work, managing not just people but also AI agents and processes directly.

Brian Chesky predicts that in an AI-driven world, managers who only manage people without being involved in the actual work will become obsolete. To provide value, every leader must be a practitioner in their domain and manage people *through the work* rather than acting as a therapist.

AI tools boost individual productivity so much that dedicated middle managers become obsolete. The new organizational structure demands that all leaders are also "doers" who spend most of their time on individual contributions, flattening hierarchies and making everyone a contributor.

Evan Spiegel believes AI will automate most managerial work, such as performance tracking, feedback gathering, and career planning. This will free up managers from administrative tasks to focus purely on leadership and could allow them to double their number of direct reports, fundamentally flattening organizational hierarchy.

As AI agents begin to run entire business departments like finance or sales, the role of human leadership will pivot. Instead of managing people's day-to-day tasks, leaders will become "directors of the AI," focusing on high-level strategy, sequencing, and handling exceptions.

AI will handle most routine tasks, reducing the number of average 'doers'. Those remaining will be either the absolute best in their craft or individuals leveraging AI for superhuman productivity. Everyone else must shift to 'director' roles, focusing on strategy, orchestration, and interpreting AI output.

AI will automate mundane data collection in functions like finance and HR. This won't eliminate jobs but rather up-level them. Employees will transition from performing repetitive tasks to supervising AI agents, focusing on higher-value strategic thinking, scenario analysis, and decision-making.