AI's impact on middle management

Extracted Attributes

• Gartner Prediction

  AI is predicted to eliminate 50% of middle management positions by 2026.

• Redefined Managerial Role

  Successful middle managers in the AI era will likely be AI-human collaboration experts, cultural transformation leaders, strategic insight specialists, and innovation catalysts.

• Key Areas for Middle Managers in AI Adoption

  Strategic workforce planning, reverse mentoring, fostering adaptability and collaboration.

• Impacted Managerial Tasks (BearingPoint Study)

  43% of standard managerial tasks are estimated to be impacted by Generative AI, with approximately 19% augmented and 24% automated.

Timeline

• The 'AI boom' leads to Generative AI tools becoming more common, fueled by improvements in transformer-based deep neural networks and large language models. (Source: Wikipedia)

  2020s

• OpenAI introduces ChatGPT, marking a significant transformation in how work is done and tasks are completed. (Source: Harvard Business Review)

  2022

• Since this year, major tech companies including Google, Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft have conducted layoffs, with many middle managers affected, partly due to AI adoption. (Source: The New York Times)

  2022

• McKinsey partners Bryan Hancock and Emily Field publish their book 'Power to the Middle: Why Managers Hold the Keys to the Future of Work', discussing the evolving role of middle managers. (Source: McKinsey)

  2023-07

• Harvard Business Review publishes the article 'How AI Is Redefining Managerial Roles', discussing the transformation of work by AI. (Source: Harvard Business Review)

  2025-07-07

• The New York Times publishes 'Which Workers Will A.I. Hurt Most: The Young or the Experienced?', noting Microsoft's layoffs of middle managers. (Source: The New York Times)

  2025-07-07

• Gartner predicts that AI will eliminate 50% of middle management positions by this year. (Source: Forbes)

  2026

Generative artificial intelligence

Generative artificial intelligence (Generative AI, GenAI, or GAI) is a subfield of artificial intelligence that uses generative models to produce text, images, videos, or other forms of data. These models learn the underlying patterns and structures of their training data and use them to produce new data based on the input, which often comes in the form of natural language prompts. Generative AI tools have become more common since the AI boom in the 2020s. This boom was made possible by improvements in transformer-based deep neural networks, particularly large language models (LLMs). Major tools include chatbots such as ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Claude, Grok, and DeepSeek; text-to-image models such as Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, and DALL-E; and text-to-video models such as Veo, LTXV and Sora. Technology companies developing generative AI include OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta AI, Microsoft, Google, DeepSeek, and Baidu. Generative AI has raised many ethical questions and governance challenges as it can be used for cybercrime, or to deceive or manipulate people through fake news or deepfakes. Even if used ethically, it may lead to mass replacement of human jobs. The tools themselves have been criticized as violating intellectual property laws, since they are trained on copyrighted works. Generative AI is used across many industries. Examples include software development, healthcare, finance, entertainment, customer service, sales and marketing, art, writing, fashion, and product design.

Web Search Results

• Middle managers are the key to AI-driven transformation

  As AI takes over repetitive work, it frees up managers to focus on strategy, leadership, and employee development. However, this shift only happens when middle managers are empowered to rethink their roles. According to BearingPoint’s study, 43% of standard managerial tasks are estimated to be impacted by GenAI. Approximately 19% of these jobs are augmented, and 24% are automated by GenAI. [...] BearingPoint highlights four key areas where middle managers can drive successful AI adoption. 1. Strategic workforce planning AI will reshape job roles and responsibilities, and middle managers are best positioned to provide HR and senior leadership with insights into future talent needs, skills development, and organizational changes. Without strategic workforce planning, organizations risk employee resistance, inefficiencies, and lost productivity. 2. Reverse mentoring [...] The study emphasizes that AI will not eliminate leadership roles but redefine them. Middle managers will be expected to act as change agents and foster adaptability and collaboration. Companies that invest in their middle managers’ AI capabilities will be better positioned to create a workforce that embraces AI rather than fears it. Marine Laufer-Tourte

• Reimagining Middle Management In The Era Of AI - Forbes

  ByMani Padisetti # Reimagining Middle Management In The Era Of AI Forbes Technology Council ByMani Padisetti, Forbes Councils Member. Mani Padisetti, CEO of Emerging Tech Armoury. The recent Gartner prediction about AI eliminating 50% of middle management positions by 2026 isn't just another technology forecast—it's a wake-up call for organizational transformation. However, this shift presents an opportunity to redefine middle management's role rather than simply accepting its decline. [...] • Develop metrics that demonstrate value in the AI era. ## Looking Ahead: The Transformed Middle Manager The successful middle manager of 2026 will likely be: • An AI-human collaboration expert. • A cultural transformation leader. • A strategic insight specialist. • An innovation catalyst. This evolution requires a fundamental mindset shift from viewing AI as a threat to seeing it as a tool for enhanced leadership effectiveness. ## Call To Action [...] Managers who excel in these three areas become indispensable to their organizations, even as AI capabilities expand. These aren't theoretical constructs—they're battle-tested elements that consistently differentiate high-performing middle managers in the AI era. Successful middle managers must reframe their value proposition around three core elements: ### 1. Strategic Integration • Connect organizational silos that AI systems can't bridge.

• Managing in the era of gen AI - McKinsey

  Middle management was already a tough gig. Then generative AI (gen AI) entered the fray. A year after the publication of their book _Power to the Middle: Why Managers Hold the Keys to the Future of Work_ (Harvard Business Review Press, July 2023), McKinsey partners Bryan Hancockand Emily Fieldjoin global editorial director Lucia Rahilly to revisit whether and why middle managers matter, what leaders could do differently to make more of the managers on their teams, and how gen AI could change [...] Lucia Rahilly: In the time since you published this book, gen AI has really taken hold as a seismically disruptive force in the business world. And we have seen relentless cost pressureon organizations, and pressure on middle managers in particular. Bryan Hancock: When it comes to generative AI, I think we’re still in the very early stages. We are starting to recognize the various use cases that gen AI enables. [...] Lucia Rahilly: We see in the headlines again and again that middle managers are under pressure and getting cut, particularly in tech organizations. Are you finding that clients are receptive to making the time for middle managers? Bryan Hancock: There are efficiencies that can be gained at every level of an organization. If we streamline decision making, if we make accountabilities clear, if we leverage technologies in new ways, it recreates the way work gets done at every level.

• Which Workers Will A.I. Hurt Most: The Young or the Experienced?

  Some of the companies at the cutting edge of A.I. adoption appear to have made similar calculations, laying off experienced employees rather than simply hiring fewer entry-level workers. Google, Meta and Amazon have all done layoffs since 2022. Two months before its most recent layoff announcement, Microsoft laid off 6,000 employees, many of them software developers, while the July layoffs included many middle managers. [...] Published Time: 2025-07-07T15:20:55.000Z Will A.I. Replace New Hires or Middle Managers? - The New York Times =============== Skip to contentSkip to site indexSearch & Section Navigation Section Navigation SEARCH Business but more midlevel coders (because A.I. amplified their value to their whole team). Image 3: headshotBehind the Journalism Our business coverage.Times journalists are not allowed to have any direct financial stake in companies they cover. [...] Mr. Reed said that from a purely financial perspective, it would increasingly make sense for companies to hire junior employees who used A.I. to do what was once midlevel work, a handful of senior employees to oversee them and almost no middle-tier employees. That, he said, is essentially how his company is structured.

• How AI Is Redefining Managerial Roles - Harvard Business Review

  Copyright ©2025 Harvard Business School Publishing. All rights reserved. Harvard Business Publishing is an affiliate of Harvard Business School. [...] ## Explore HBR ## Popular Topics ## For Subscribers ## My Account # How AI Is Redefining Managerial Roles ## Summary. It’s been less than three years since OpenAI introduced ChatGPT, but the technology has already begun to transform work. Tasks that once consumed large parts of many employees’ days can now be done more quickly—and in some cases automatically. ## Partner Center Explore HBR HBR Store About HBR Manage My Account Follow HBR Harvard Business Publishing: