In this solo episode of the Product Thinking Podcast, Melissa Perri shares the results of the State of AI in Product 2026 survey of 309 product leaders, co-published with Product Circle. The tools are everywhere, but the work has not changed. Melissa walks through five findings and what they mean for you.

Adoption is nearly universal, yet only a third of leaders say AI is strengthening their operating model. Melissa explains why the bottleneck is still upstream in discovery and decisions, and why AI acts as a multiplier rather than an equalizer, helping mature organizations and exposing the cracks in everyone else.

She unpacks the dataset's largest gap, between executives who think an AI strategy exists and the PMs who never see it reach their work, and what leaders and PMs should do about it. Melissa also shares some news: the podcast is taking a pause after this episode, though she is not going far.

You'll hear me talk about:

• The tools changed, but the work did not

Almost every team has adopted AI tools, but only a third say it is strengthening how they work. Melissa shows why delivery got faster while decisions did not, and why the real bottleneck has moved upstream into discovery, prioritization, and review, not another coding assistant.

• Why AI multiplies your operating model and skips your strategy

AI is a multiplier, not an equalizer. Mature operating models convert it into results while broken ones get worse, and smaller teams often outpace far larger ones. Melissa also covers the biggest gap in the data: executives believe an AI strategy exists, but it never reaches the PM's work.

• What to do next

Melissa lays out the moves that matter: redesign workflows instead of buying tools, translate strategy into rules PMs can use, measure outcomes over adoption, and train product, design, and engineering together.

Episode resources:

Check our courses: https://productinstitute.com/

State of AI in Product 2026 (full report):https://productcircle.co/state-of-ai-2026

Recommended while we're on pause:

Episode 211: The Power of Team Topologies with Matthew Skeltonhttps://www.produxlabs.com/product-thinking-blog/episode-211-matthew-skelton-team-topologies

Episode 42: Making the Case for Product Operations with Denise Tilleshttps://www.produxlabs.com/product-thinking-blog/episode-42-denise-tilles

Melissa Perri on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissaperri/

Product Circle:https://www.linkedin.com/company/product-circle/