The PM Paradox: How AI Is Teaching Us to Do the Wrong Job Better

The AI moment has handed product managers an incredible gift and a dangerous trap. When AI can build, the instinct is for PMs to build too. This talk argues that's exactly the wrong response. The job of a product manager was never to build; it was to be right about what to build. Through 5 concrete failure modes, from solution bias to the lamppost problem, this session makes the case that the "PM as Builder" trend is compressing or eliminating the discovery work that is the actual source of competitive advantage. Drawing on examples from Dyson, American Express, James Watt, and the humble self-checkout, this is a call to return to the fundamentals: discovery, framing, and the courage to say no. This is not an anti-AI rant, it's quite the opposite, but a challenge to use it for the right things.