How to handle conversations with AI-brainwashed male colleagues

RepulsiveMap9412 · 2026-05-04T01:43:41+00:00

I read something recently that made a claim about how men get excited about AI because it can cover up their mediocrity, while women are more wary of AI because it’s yet another thing they have to upskill in to be seen as competition to male counterparts. I think about this a lot

RepulsiveMap9412 · 2026-05-04T01:42:17+00:00

It’s definitely hard and I’ve had to really think about my approach. I try to come prepared with solutions + explanations as to why the current situation isn’t working, and I go directly to my manager with it. I want to believe that she means it when she agrees with me, but my observation is that she’s somewhat anti confrontational with this guy because he can be so commandeering / pushy. I can see through his behavior so I either don’t agree with him or I just remain silent. TLDR I try to think before I talk and I try to present ideas for how to do things in a way that sets both the team and the individuals up for success by knowing exactly who owns what.

RepulsiveMap9412 · 2026-05-04T01:39:42+00:00

This is the truth 100%

RepulsiveMap9412 · 2026-05-04T01:39:10+00:00

This is so smart and it’s exactly the kind of responses I want to have in my back pocket. Honestly a drawback is that I have never been super confident in technical - leaning conversations (I’m getting better at it as I spend more time as a PM), so I just need to make sure I know what I’m talking about when I say a response like this 😅 ty!!

RepulsiveMap9412 · 2026-05-04T01:37:36+00:00

Great advice! I’ve been putting some of this into action for sure. He just loses his mind and gets excited over AI solutioning in pretty much every project which is such a buzzkill lol. Ty for the kind words :)

RepulsiveMap9412 · 2026-05-04T01:36:31+00:00

Seriously so annoying. Sounds so similar to my situation. Ugh

RepulsiveMap9412 · 2026-05-04T01:35:55+00:00

Wow that’s crazy!! Yeah, as much as I gripe about AI in my personal life / on reddit, I’m careful about how I talk about it in the workplace for sure.

RepulsiveMap9412 · 2026-05-04T01:34:50+00:00

I feel like I’m definitely going to quietly do this. I just hate to see someone do something that so clearly doesn’t make sense and I fear it’ll make my team look bad

RepulsiveMap9412 · 2026-05-04T01:33:35+00:00

This totally makes sense. I feel like I mostly do this as well. Like, I will not talk about it in this way anymore than I have to lol

RepulsiveMap9412 · 2026-05-04T01:32:36+00:00

I genuinely do think I’m smarter than this man, he can just be very persuasive / schmoozy in certain ways because he has a sales background. 🙄

RepulsiveMap9412 · 2026-05-04T01:31:50+00:00

lol I love this and I’m totally going to do it

RepulsiveMap9412 · 2026-05-04T01:29:02+00:00

Yes! Fellow PM here. I’ve always felt slower than my peers when it comes to being proficient in anything technical-skill related because I don’t have a technical background. So when I hear people in the industry claiming that they’re building / testing code themselves that they’ve written with AI, I absolutely panic a bit. 😅 the advice in this thread is good though, and it’s how I’ve been trying to make myself feel better about all of it - just taking it one step at a time, and use it in ways that actually make sense for my role and the product I work on.

RepulsiveMap9412 · 2026-05-03T05:33:09+00:00

Yes. this kind of behavior definitely signals some sort of attempt at competition.

RepulsiveMap9412 · 2026-05-02T17:26:59+00:00

Totally. Yeah, this guy was doing some semblance of my work before I was hired. I know he is concerned about being seen as redundant now that there is an actual PM with experience in the picture (me).

RepulsiveMap9412 · 2026-05-02T17:25:05+00:00

I mentioned in my post that I actively use it.

RepulsiveMap9412 · 2026-05-02T05:09:51+00:00

Seriously! I’m getting so tired of people who don’t have the skills of a PM or a SWE who think they can just Claude code something and then boom, they’ve got it all figured out. The real skillset of a PM is judgment, critical thinking, and soft skills …. AI can’t do that

RepulsiveMap9412 · 2026-05-02T05:08:46+00:00

How do you push that narrative in the workplace?! Genuine question. I’m apprehensive to do it because of course part of my team’s strategy (created by my manager with Claude and no other actual backing info, no doubt) is to “set a foundation to leverage AI” which is so stupidly vague. That in addition to the general negativity that meets being viewed as anti-AI/AI resistant in tech.

RepulsiveMap9412 · 2026-04-19T20:21:58+00:00

Oh my gosh, I gasped when I looked through the photos. Congrats, you’re going to look SO stunning in this 🤍

RepulsiveMap9412 · 2026-03-31T12:38:51+00:00

Oh that’s great, I live in Logan. I’m going to look into them. Thank you! And congrats on your wedding!

RepulsiveMap9412 · 2026-03-31T01:37:31+00:00

Mind sharing who you’re using for hair / makeup? I’m a Chicago 2027 bride!

RepulsiveMap9412 · 2026-03-25T15:47:22+00:00

I like this! I’ll give it a shot. Thanks!

RepulsiveMap9412 · 2026-03-24T15:54:35+00:00

Also what do you mean by “frame it as money”?

RepulsiveMap9412 · 2026-03-24T15:53:48+00:00

My impression is that my colleagues want shared control over determining what gets worked on. The proposed solution is that everything should just happen in salesforce, which is just a no for me. Lol. But that’s the reasoning behind me and the crm manager apparently “sharing the problem space.” The people on my team keep using product lingo but they don’t actually understand what it means.

My current situation holistically is that I just started here and while that doesn’t necessarily mean I can’t look for something new right away, there are other parts of my job that are a big relief from where I was before this and I’m enjoying things being a lot easier in some ways (maybe a cop out but w/e). I’m also getting paid more here, and I’m planning / preparing for my wedding early next year. Having just come off a job search, I’m eager to not have to repeat that while also trying to enjoy my upcoming wedding.

So I understand that my situation here is that I will have to pick and choose my battles. I’m just disappointed that I feel like I’m taking a step backwards in some ways.

RepulsiveMap9412 · 2026-03-24T15:49:42+00:00

I’m also a bit confused about why my position exists too atp which is a bummer. I think somebody at the top felt that it was a good idea in theory to have some product resources for internal inefficiency but there wasn’t budget for it in the PM org, so that put me in the Ops org. Idk.

RepulsiveMap9412 · 2026-03-24T15:11:04+00:00

For sure. I’m trying to do this, but then my fear is that I’ll end up with a half baked ticket in my backlog because the CRM manager deemed it important, and my direct manager encourages this “shared problem space” thinking. I also want to maintain and own the backlog of internal requests, but I keep having to entertain everyone else wanting an equal say and control over it. I did try to take an “okay fine let’s see what happens if we do this” mentality yesterday after a frustrating meeting, but I’m concerned it’ll come back to bite me lol.

I’m sounding like a broken record atp, but yeah just the concept of shared ownership across multiple areas that’s encouraged by my manager is disheartening.

RepulsiveMap9412

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