‘Millennial middle manager has the worst’: Viral video strikes a chord, sparks AI job debate | Today’s news
Artificial intelligence was supposed to take repetitive work off employees’ plates. But what happens when companies start to see this extra efficiency as a reason to simply allocate more work?
That’s the question behind a viral Instagram video by Lovish Kaushik, who says middle managers may be pushed harder than anyone else in an AI-driven workplace.
“The millennial middle manager is the worst in the corporate world right now. And I know because I’m one of them,” Kaushik says in the video.
His job description appealed to company employees online. He argues that the manager is caught between a workforce that increasingly values boundaries and senior management that wants higher goals, smaller teams and faster results.
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One job, two very different expectations
Kaushik says employees under him want work to remain a part of their lives rather than define them.
“They want work to be a part of their life, not their whole life.”
On the other hand, according to him, management is increasingly focused on doing more with fewer people.
“And above me there is a management that comes with bigger goals, reduces teams and seems to have no patience.”
The pressure is particularly visible in startups, he says, where lean teams are already expected to expand further.
“Because now there’s another layer that allows you to do more with less. Because AI seems to handle everything else.”
In this last assumption, Kaushik sees a growing problem. He recalls sitting in meetings where leaders, after seeing what AI could potentially achieve, immediately raised expectations for the team.
“I’ve literally sat in rooms with founders who saw one thread about AI and said the feature now needs to do 3x more.”
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When a manager becomes an intermediary
The result is a familiar corporate balancing act: managers must sell management’s expectations to their teams while explaining to management their teams’ limitations.
“They don’t know how the feature works, they just know it has to be done and it can be done. I’m literally a translator at this point.”
The problem, Kaushik says, is that teams meant to deliver more are often already stretched thin.
“I’m getting pushback and now I have to take that push from leadership that says it has to be done regardless.”
And since the manager is more experienced, the assumption may be that he will simply absorb the pressure.
“Everyone assumes that because I’m more experienced it should be fine.
Is this really an AI problem?
The video has sparked debate over whether AI is really the culprit – or merely revealing older issues with workplace management.
One user commented, “It’s not an AI problem. It’s an Indian mindset problem.”
Another said the same situation was happening at the Big Four firms and argued that management needed to provide more realistic expectations and support.
A third took a simpler view: “It’s a management problem!!
Another commenter offered perhaps the most practical perspective: middle managers should protect their teams from permanent overload, communicate when goals are unrealistic, and accept that not every project can succeed with limited resources.
