At OpenAI, PMs who aren't strong coders use Codex to build features 70-80% of the way to completion, especially when engineering has no bandwidth. This transforms the PM role from a spec-writer to a builder, providing functional prototypes instead of just documents.

The high-fidelity AI prototype is becoming the primary document for communicating user experience. The Product Requirements Document (PRD) is evolving to focus on edge cases and provide structured context that can be fed back into the AI for future iterations.

The traditional workflow (Idea -> PRD -> Alignment) is outdated. Now, PMs first create a functional AI prototype. This visual, interactive artifact is then brought to engineers and scientists for debate, accelerating alignment and making the development process more creative and collaborative from the start.

The team writes very few specifications. When a spec is necessary for complex projects, it's incredibly brief—often just ten bullet points. This approach prioritizes speed and gives more autonomy to the people closest to the code, empowering them to make decisions.

Accessible prototyping tools are changing product norms. The expectation is shifting from presenting detailed Product Requirements Documents to sharing interactive prototypes. This visual, hands-on approach accelerates discussions, improves decision quality, and makes ideas tangible for a wider audience.

At OpenAI, the development cycle is accelerated by a practice called "vibe coding." Designers and PMs build functional prototypes directly with AI tools like Codex. This visual, interactive method is often faster and more effective for communicating ideas than writing traditional product specifications.

Product Requirement Documents (PRDs) are often written and then ignored. AI-generated prototypes change this dynamic by serving as powerful internal communication tools. Putting an interactive model in front of engineering and design teams sparks better, more tangible conversations and ideas than a flat document ever could.

The product management workflow is evolving from documentation to creation. With AI tools lowering the barrier to build, PMs can now develop and share functional prototypes to communicate ideas and test assumptions, a much higher-fidelity approach than traditional written documents.

For complex features, a 17-page requirements document is inefficient for alignment. An interactive AI-generated prototype allows stakeholders to see and use the product, making it a more effective source of truth for gathering feedback and defining requirements than static documentation.