Is AI the next space race?
Between venture capital and government funding, the US will invest in AI, more than twice what was invested in the space race in the next 5 years alone.
I've written several versions of this post over the past few weeks. Just when I think I've organized my thoughts on the matter and am about ready to publish, something new happens, and my worldview on AI is upended again with a groundbreaking new development or success story.
If you had asked me two weeks ago if AI was going to replace designers or illustrators, I would have said no, but with OpenAI's latest update to image generation in ChatGPT, I'm not so sure.
There are a lot of conversations happening around AI. How it's taking people's jobs, how it's creating new opportunities, how it's changing the way we work.
Even if you feel secure now that AI can't do your job, it's definitely going to have a significant impact. If nothing else, your future employment opportunities will look a lot different because of it.
Two days ago, the CEO of Shopify released an internal memo about AI. The expectation is that everyone in the company should be using AI now, and if you're looking for more headcount for your team, you must first demonstrate why you cannot get it done using AI.
I can confirm from my conversations with other PMs and company leaders, through coaching and training seminars, that if you're not using AI, there is a growing belief that they're not getting the full value for your time.
Some things to consider:
If your company has an enterprise-level GPT account (or equivalent), they'll be looking at usage statistics before the next round of layoffs. If you've never used it, you may find yourself at the top of the cut list.
AI is not going to replace Product Managers per se. AI can help you focus on strategic work. If anything, it will mean we need more PMs to manage the many more small and niche products that get created. If you're a developer reading this, I highly recommend investing in growing your PM skills.
I promise you, everyone hasn't figured it out already. I coach PMs from a wide variety of companies, and most are still experimenting. You're not late. You're early.
If you think things are moving fast now, they will only move faster from here on out.
Comparing current AI progress to the space race
The current AI boom is the next space race. In 1957 - The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, and just 12 years later, in 1969 - the US successfully landed on the moon with the Apollo 11 mission.
This AI moment might be even more significant and faster than that.
During the space race, the US government invested an equivalent of $318 billion in today's dollars into the Apollo missions.
In the last five years, venture capital has invested $334 Billion ($100 billion in 2024 alone, representing nearly one-third of all venture funding). The US government has promised its own $500 billion investment in partnership with OpenAI and other key partners, with $100 billion of that available immediately.
Between venture capital and government funding, the US will invest in AI, more than twice what was invested in the space race just in the next 5 years alone.
AI might be coming for your job as you know it, but I'm hopeful it's only coming for the parts that slow you down.
The Product Managers who thrive in this next chapter aren't the ones who ignore AI or even those who fully trust it. It will be the ones who treat it like a teammate: helpful, fast, sometimes wrong, but always getting better and making you better at your job.
You don't need to become a prompt wizard overnight or replace your instincts with outputs from a language model to stay ahead. But you do need to start experimenting. Try a few tools. Automate a few tasks. Let AI help you think bigger, faster, and with fewer roadblocks.
So start now. Start small if you have to. But start.