Back in 2023, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg made an observation about his company: "I don't think you want a management structure that's just managers managing managers, managing managers, managing managers, managing the people who are doing the work," he said during a company Q&A session , The Verge reported at the time. Then came the great flattening . Companies from Meta to Citi began to cull their ranks of middle managers. Now, the AI age is offering a new twist to the story of middle management.