Would you trade your manager for a chatbot? A growing number of Americans are saying yes.
According to a Quinnipiac University poll published Monday, 15% of Americans say they’d be willing to have a job where their direct supervisor was an AI program that assigned tasks and set schedules. Quinnipiac surveyed 1,397 adults in the United States and conducted the poll — which included questions about AI adoption, trust, and job fears — between March 19 and 23, 2026.
Of course, the majority of respondents said they wouldn’t be willing to swap their human boss for an AI people manager. But the use of AI as a supervisor is gaining in popularity, even if one isn’t directly in charge of steering entire teams of people.
Companies like Workday have launched AI agents that can file and approve expense reports on employees’ behalf. Amazon has deployed new AI workflows to replace some of the responsibilities of middle management, laying off thousands of managers in the process. Engineers at Uber even built an AI model of CEO Dara Khosrowshahi to field pitches before meetings with their actual boss.
Across organizations, AI is being used to replace layers of management in what some are calling “The Great Flattening.” Soon, we may start to see entire billion-dollar companies of one, with fully automated employees and executives.
Americans are wary about what that means for their job prospects. The majority of respondents in Quinnipiac’s survey — 70% — said they believe advances in AI will lead to a decrease in the number of job opportunities for people. Among employed Americans, 30% were either very concerned or somewhat concerned that AI would make their job specifically obsolete.
