Determinants of Replacing Human Managers with AI-Driven Virtual Managers. Results of Research

Research on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in management is gradually emerging as one of the key challenges for the future, highlighting the need for effective cooperation between humans and AI agents within organizations. The implementation of AI in management appears to surpass any previous technological breakthrough in human history and it is viewed as a promising paradigm for addressing future scenarios in which humans and autonomous systems collaborate closely. The aim of this paper is to present the most significant determinants of replacing human managers with AI-driven virtual managers, particularly in relation to methodological challenges in management science, managerial work representation, research methods, research tools, and reasoning techniques. The research problem addressed in this paper concerns the feasibility of replacing human managers with AI-driven virtual managers, grounded in a new methodological approach referred to as the system of organizational terms. The study employs online management tools as research instruments and ChatGPT-5 as the primary reasoning method. Two research questions were explored: RQ1: Which managerial actions performed by humans can be effectively replaced by AI-driven managers in virtual teams? RQ2: What conditions must be met to ensure high accuracy and reliability of AI-driven managerial actions? The answers to these questions were formulated based on the original methodological framework for studying management reality and through empirical research on human managerial behavior using online management tools.