2025 will be your last year as a manager.

That's a bold claim, right?

But I'm not joking about it.

Lots of people are already starting to sense it, and it’s getting more and more clear each day.

You may sense it yourself whenever you read the latest headlines.

AI is no longer a distant sci-fi concept.

It’s creeping into daily tasks, automating half the stuff we once did ourselves.

Managers everywhere feel that little tug in their stomach telling them change is coming.

And trust me, it’s not just a passing trend.

Why 2025 Will Be Your Last Year As A Manager?

I say this with a mix of excitement and caution.

We’re on the brink of seeing AI agents take on roles we never imagined they could.

Software that once only did basic tasks is now writing and re-writing itself, handling our schedules, and even taking on parts of our decision-making.

The manager role feels safe right now.

After all, we still need humans to set objectives, handle performance checks, and keep people on track, right?

Right?

But let’s think about what’s really changing.

The rise of AI in 2024

I’ve had front-row seats to the shift this past year.

Almost every conversation with my peers had something to do with ChatGPT, stable diffusion, or automated content creation.

AI was no longer a fancy trick.

It became a genuine teammate.

And now, we don’t just see it producing text or images.

It’s making real-time decisions, scheduling events, and offering quick projections in ways that feel surreal.

Here’s the reality:

Every department is putting AI to work, from HR scanning CVs, to finance automating invoice management.

Even your direct reports might already be using AI-based assistants to streamline tasks.

You might be delegating small bits of your workload to an AI without even noticing it.

These baby steps are turning into leaps.

AI agents are the culprit

The phrase “managing a team of AI agents” wasn’t even on my radar two years ago.

Now, I can’t avoid it.

I’m juggling tasks between human team members and a bunch of AI-based helpers every single day.

At first, it felt odd.

I wondered if I’d lose control or if my people would trust AI outputs.

Then I realised it’s more about guiding the AI, telling it what I need, and setting the boundaries.

That skill set is more about coaching and quality-checking than old-school management.

Some folks think they can rest easy, believing AI agents need us to watch them.

But if I’m being honest, these systems are learning fast.

They’re making fewer mistakes each week.

Soon, you might see them adapt, self-correct, and make strategic calls that once required a director’s approval.

The big inflection point

I think 2025 will be a big inflection point.

The date itself may not matter, but the shift feels real.

AI might handle so many tasks that the idea of a manager who micromanages human tasks becomes irrelevant.

You won’t be telling five people what to do each day because your AI crew will be faster, more analytical, and less prone to slip-ups.

We might all think, “I’ll just manage the AI then.”

Sure, that’s true right now.

But let’s be real.

The AI is evolving at breakneck speed.

Its intelligence is scaling beyond our expectations.

If it surpasses us (i bet it's 2025), the manager role we cherish might fade.

And when that happens, humans may end up as collaborators with AI or even subordinates to it.

From managing people to working under AI

As Nufar Gaspar rightly said in her discussion with Nathaniel Whittemore at 25 predictions for AI agents in 2025

We are experiencing "Shift from a co-pilot to an agent paradigm"

It made more and more clear we are moving from being AI Managers to AI Colleagues to AI Subordinates and it is happening at a unimaginable pace.

This thought is really unsettling.

We are going to get bossed around by algorithms.

Final thought

2025 will be your last year as a manager. Period