AI in product work

Artificial intelligence is already embedded in daily product work.

AI adoption is not limited by access or willingness. Most teams already use AI in daily work. The real difference lies in what teams expect AI to change.

Most respondents use AI for writing, ideation, and early concept development, and adoption is widespread across both product-centric and delivery-centric teams. The difference appears in how AI is expected to be used next. Product-centric teams increasingly apply AI to support thinking, synthesis, and decision-making, while delivery-centric teams primarily use it to increase output. The tool is the same, but the outcomes are not.

Teams expect AI to expand into analytics, insight generation, and customer-facing interactions. However, AI does not erase the cultural divide between product-centric and delivery-centric teams. Product-centric teams use AI to improve decision quality, synthesis, and learning, while delivery-centric teams mainly use it to increase output and speed. As a result, AI widens the gap rather than closing it, accelerating learning for some teams and accelerating the delivery of the wrong work for others.

This difference matters. AI can reduce effort, but it does not automatically improve outcomes. In delivery-centric environments, AI risks accelerating the production of work that does not improve user satisfaction.

The survey suggests a clear conclusion. AI amplifies the existing operating model. It strengthens teams that already learn well and exposes the limitations of teams that do not.

The strongest signal across the survey is not a tool, a framework, or a process. It is culture.

Product-centric teams do not win because they work harder or move faster. They win because their way of working makes learning cheaper, decisions clearer, and trade-offs explicit.

Delivery-centric teams often deliver a lot. But without changing how decisions are made, they struggle to improve user satisfaction and long-term outcomes.

Teams do not win by shipping more.
They win by building the right things, for the right reasons, over time.

They Win by product.