As AI takes on more workplace roles, the case for AI-led management is becoming harder to ignore; economically, operationally, and culturally. Worker attitudes are shifting, Human managers are burning out, and the financial cost of top-level leadership is rising while their tenure shrinks. AI-Human hybrid organizations, with autonomous agents at every level, may arrive sooner than expected, driven not by ideology, but by simple economics.
As AI becomes more powerful and capable, becoming our clients and customers, replacing our blue-collar and white-collar jobs, it will grow into expanded responsibility. Sentient or not, AI will become our project managers, middle-managers, VPs and more. It will likely enter the boardrooms, the C-Suites and oversight committees by the end of the decade.
It used to be that an employee with a brilliant idea, to invest in software that would greatly change their working lives, would have to pitch this to management. Only to be told that building this tool would be too expensive, too time-consuming and too complicated in their current IT landscape. But today, this same worker can easily build this tool themselves in an afternoon, no permissions required, at close to no cost. They are increasingly in a position to build their own dashboards that help them generate and collate leads, communicate and do the repetitive work for them.
This means that mid-level managers cannot retain oversight of the creation of potentially thousands of micro-solutions generated day by day, hour by hour, by their teams. There will have to be a high degree of trust and responsibility delegated out to the ground-level of workers, whether they are factory workers, assistants, software developers or accountants.
What will become of our Human mid- and upper-level managers? This group is under the highest levels of stress, exhaustion and burnout, with 40% more work-related stress and anxiety than the typical worker, and middle managers reporting the lowest degree of work-life balance.[i] As workers and entire organizations become AI-Powered, what if the demands of the community will soon outpace what a Human mid-level leader is able to provide? With very little creativity, influence or power to design their own workspace, is the role of mid to upper management even a role worth fighting for?
The same arguments used for why a Human worker can be replaced by a cheerful, always-on, intelligence with no need for vacation, coaching, motivation or coffee breaks, can be applied the middle-manager. Working for an AI manager who is relentlessly supportive, neutral, solutions-oriented and always ready to listen, that is weighted for a growth mindset and unburdened by the demands of a Human ego, the need for a high salary and a company car, who does not engage in temper tantrums or affairs with the intern, might start feeling more and more attractive to the typical professional who often has to “manage up” to do their jobs.
Ask the typical worker whether they would rather work for a Human or an AI boss, and the result might be surprising. While employees today still show a clear baseline preference for Human managers, these attitudes shift the more that trusted AI systems are adopted in an organization.[ii] Today, 66% of American workers believe that AI-first management would lead to more fairness and efficiency in the workplace.[iii]
This type of manager might also sound good to the AI-Leader as well, who typically spends a high percentage of their time resolving petty conflicts and untangling communication breakdowns at this level of the organization. It might also be a matter of pure money. We have all witnessed a near-exponential growth in CEO compensation, rising over 1,000% since 1978, with top leaders earning 281 to 399 times the compensation of a typical worker, driven by vast stock-based awards, bonuses and payouts.[iv] At the same time, top-level leadership turnover is increasing; in 2025 the proportion of CEOs departing within three years months increased by 79%.[v]
As middle-managers burn out and withdraw, and CEOs swing from parting payout to exorbitant signing bonus every 2,5 years, the rise of the AI-Human led organization, where autonomous agents are operating at every level, from the Embodied AI factory worker to an AI-led senior management board, may be closer than we think. This organization would run without vast CEO salaries nor the expense in time and money of the predictable Human scandals that require entire teams of legal, PR and mid-level managers to clean up. Replacing leaders with AI will come down to economics and a simple assessment of risk.
Workers have been told for generations, that “no one is irreplaceable”. This could soon be the case for leaders, no matter what we tell ourselves about our exceptionality. The AI Leader that cannot be replaced by AI is the one that is intensely Human, empathetic, an expert communicator, a deep listener, and highly visible.
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About Fiona Passantino
Fiona helps empower working Humans with AI integration, leadership and communication. Maximizing connection, engagement and creativity for more joy and inspiration into the workplace. A passionate keynote speaker, trainer, facilitator and coach, she is a prolific content producer, host of the podcast “Working Humans” and award-winning author of the “Comic Books for Executives” series. Her latest book is “The AI-Powered Professional”.
[i] Subramanian (2022) “Executives feel the strain of leading in the ‘new normal’” Future Forum https://futureforum.com/2022/10/20/pulse-fall-2022-executives-feel-strain-leading-in-new-normal/
[ii] Lee, Puranam, Mai (2025) “Would You Let an AI Be Your Boss? Employee Preferences for AI versus Human Managers” SSRN https://ssrn.com/abstract=5750102 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5750102
[iii] Blake (2025) “Most Workers Say AI Managers Would Be Better in Key Ways: Survey” Newsweek https://www.newsweek.com/most-workers-say-ai-managers-better-key-ways-2124547
[iv] Bivens, Kandra (2022) “CEO pay has skyrocketed 1,460% since 1978 CEOs were paid 399 times as much as a typical worker in 2021” Economic Policy Institue https://www.epi.org/publication/ceo-pay-in-2021/
[v] Russel Reynolds (2025) “Global CEO Turnover Index” Russel Reynolds https://www.russellreynolds.com/en/insights/reports-surveys/global-ceo-turnover-index