Archive · 14 Sep 2026
Viral Video Spotlights Middle Managers’ Pressure in AI Workplace
Lovish Kaushik made a video about why middle managers feel overwhelmed.
He says they are stuck between their employees and senior leaders.
Employees may want work to be only one part of their lives.
Leaders may want bigger goals and smaller teams.
Some leaders believe AI means employees can do much more work.
Managers then have to explain these demands to their teams.
They also have to tell leaders when their teams are already stretched.
People online debated whether AI caused the problem or simply made old management problems more visible.
The video became popular because many workers recognized this situation.
Lovish Kaushik says millennial middle managers are squeezed between employees seeking boundaries and leadership demanding more.
He argues AI is prompting some leaders to raise targets, reduce teams and expect significantly more output.
Kaushik describes managers as translators who carry leadership demands to teams and team concerns back upward.
He says startups face especially strong pressure to accomplish more with fewer people because AI is expected to handle additional work.
Online commenters disagreed over whether AI, workplace culture or management itself is the main cause.
- Who
- Lovish Kaushik, middle managers, employees and corporate leaders are central to the discussion.
- What
- A viral Instagram video sparked debate about the pressure AI-driven expectations place on middle managers.
- When
- The article does not specify when the video was posted or when the events occurred.
- Where
- The discussion concerns corporate workplaces, especially startups, and unfolded on Instagram and in online comments.
- Why
- Kaushik says leaders are using AI’s potential to demand larger targets, smaller teams and more work, leaving managers caught between leadership and employees.
AI and workplace culture are driving the pressure
Management practices are the main problem
What is causing the strain?
AI and workplace culture are driving the pressure
Kaushik’s account suggests AI is encouraging leaders to expect substantially more output from smaller teams, while one commenter attributed the situation to an Indian workplace mindset.
Management practices are the main problem
Other commenters said it is fundamentally a management problem, arguing that leaders need more realistic expectations and better support rather than simply blaming AI.
What should leadership do?
AI and workplace culture are driving the pressure
Leaders should recognize that AI does not automatically eliminate the work required from already stretched teams and should account for employee boundaries.
Management practices are the main problem
Leadership should improve its management approach by setting realistic targets and supporting teams, regardless of whether AI is involved.
- Speaker
- Lovish Kaushik, who identifies himself as a millennial middle manager
- Platform
- Core concern
- AI-related efficiency is being treated as a reason to assign more work
- Management pressure
- Leaders are described as seeking bigger targets, smaller teams and faster results
- Manager’s role
- Middle managers translate leadership expectations to teams and team concerns to leadership
- Workplaces mentioned
- Startups and Big Four firms
- Online debate
- Commenters variously blamed AI, an Indian workplace mindset or management