AI Blurs the Lines: PMs Become the New Engineers?
The core of AI applications lies in prompt engineering, yet surprisingly, many companies entrust prompt creation to product managers, not engineers. This sparks an intriguing trend: AI is blurring the lines between product managers and engineers. Simple LLM applications merely require choosing a base model and a prompt template, while complex ones incorporate structures like Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) or agents. Almost all AI applications follow the same structure; their behavior is determined not by code but by prompts, tool selection, and the base model. This makes excellent prompt engineers crucial, and PMs and domain experts often excel at prompt engineering over software engineers. Prompt engineering will remain vital, with PMs, not engineers, driving AI success in the future. AI is eating software engineering, automating coding tasks first, making the PM role even more critical due to their understanding of user needs and product shaping. The traditional boundary between product and engineering might vanish, with top AI teams needing individuals bridging the gap between both roles.