Just ten years ago, artificial intelligence was mostly the stuff of sci-fi books and movies. Now, it seems to be everywhere. It generates texts, creates art, composes music, and even writes code. In fact, there is so much AI-produced content that the line between reality and fiction often gets blurred.
Today, nearly every industry uses generative AI for some purpose. Artificial intelligence creates digests and summaries, searches for information, compiles checklists, and chats with customers. As a smart assistant, it does a brilliant job, returning results in a fraction of the time it would take for a person to do the same task. What’s important, though, is to not leave AI to its own devices, as at the moment, generative AI often needs human supervision to do things right.
What about generative AI for project management? Any business in any industry that operates with projects can benefit from the data processing capabilities of AI. In this blog post, we look at how generative AI and project management work together.
Generative AI in project management: Where does it fit?
Project management generates tons of content on a daily basis: reports, meeting notes, summaries, plans, diagrams, and so on. Creating and maintaining documentation, while important for project success, takes up a considerable chunk of a project manager’s time. This is where generative AI (GenAI) can come in handy, either fully automating tasks or preparing and processing data for the project manager to work with.
Already in 2019, Gartner predicted that by 2030, 80% of PM tasks would be taken over by artificial intelligence.
Of course, such predictions do not mean that AI will independently do the lion’s share of a project manager’s work. Easy and routine tasks can be automated by AI; however, as tasks grow in complexity, the importance of human insight, oversight, and adaptability remains paramount.
Adopting GenAI for project management
Integrating GenAI into project management requires more than just tools; it calls for a thoughtful approach to how tasks are handled and a willingness to adapt practices as technology evolves. Successfully adopting generative AI for project managers means understanding where human expertise is essential and where AI can provide efficient support, striking a balance that maximizes productivity while maintaining project quality.
Here are some AI adoption recommendations from the Intellias Project Management Office (PMO), which has been named one of the best globally according to the PMO Global Alliance (PMOGA):
- Evaluate and define roles: Identify specific tasks that can be delegated to GenAI and establish guidelines for when human oversight is required, particularly for tasks requiring strategic input.
- Develop standard prompts and protocols: Create reusable prompts and protocols for tasks that are frequently automated, allowing team members to standardize their approach and ensuring consistency across projects.
- Encourage continuous learning: As GenAI tools evolve, provide ongoing training to project managers, ensuring they stay updated on new features and best practices for leveraging AI in project work.
Artificial intelligence is not a substitute for human intelligence; it is a tool to amplify human creativity and ingenuity.
Typical use cases for generative AI in project management and popular AI tools
While GenAI can do simple tasks independently, more complex tasks must be verified or completed by humans. Let’s see what we can leave to AI tools and where a human touch is still necessary.
Simplifying low-complexity tasks
GenAI shines in automating tasks that are low in complexity and require minimal human intervention. Automation is particularly effective for tasks like generating routine reports, analyzing documents, summarizing meeting notes, and performing basic calculations. For instance, project managers might use the MS Teams Chatbot to automatically generate project status updates or extract key points from lengthy meeting notes. These automated outputs can then be quickly reviewed and shared with team members, freeing up time for more strategic work.
Additionally, standardized prompts can be created to automate similar tasks across multiple projects. This approach not only increases efficiency but also allows less experienced team members to leverage GenAI without needing extensive project management expertise. By focusing on repetitive, low-impact tasks, GenAI can significantly reduce time spent on administrative work, enabling project managers to focus on higher-priority activities.
Enhancing project planning with GenAI
Effective project planning can make the difference between a project’s success and failure. Artificial intelligence for project managers can help by providing data-driven insights, automating documentation generation, and optimizing resource allocation. For instance, by using AI-powered tools like Show Me Diagrams and Gemini, project managers can visualize project workflows, risks, and dependencies. These tools analyze historical data and trends to identify potential bottlenecks, allowing managers to foresee and proactively address issues long before they impact the project.
For efficient automated documentation, try tools such as ClickUp Brain and Asana for generating project plans, task breakdowns, and status reports. Such tools not only save time — they allow project managers to focus on higher-level strategic work rather than spending hours on routine documentation.
Optimizing time and cost management with GenAI
Most projects face time and budget constraints, but GenAI offers tools that empower managers to stay on top of both. Predictive analytics tools such as Smartsheet and MS Teams Chatbot analyze real-time and historical project data to provide accurate forecasts, making it easier to spot potential delays and cost overruns early in the process.
For example, a project manager working on a high-stakes project with tight deadlines can use predictive analytics to identify risks that might compromise the timeline or budget and take preventive measures. Meanwhile, automated reporting — available through tools like Gemini and ChatGPT — simplifies the process of creating progress reports. Managers can rely on GenAI to deliver comprehensive and up-to-date reports, saving time they would otherwise spend on report preparation while improving visibility into project performance and enabling timely adjustments.
Mitigating risks with advanced AI insights
Risk management is essential for every project manager, and GenAI tools bring a new layer of intelligence to the table. Tools like Assistant for Jira and MS Teams Chatbot allow project managers to analyze complex data sets for hidden risks, uncovering issues that might be missed by traditional analysis. By leveraging GenAI’s ability to scan and interpret massive datasets, project managers can get a comprehensive view of possible project risks, ranging from resource shortages to vendor delays.
For instance, a project manager can use ChatGPT to simulate various risk scenarios and create response strategies. AI can suggest diverse approaches to managing each risk, allowing the project manager to evaluate potential outcomes before committing to a course of action. This proactive approach ensures that projects remain resilient and adaptable.
Elevating stakeholder communication
Effective communication with stakeholders is a cornerstone of successful project management, and GenAI provides new ways to personalize and enhance this interaction. Using tools like Microsoft 365 Copilot and ChatGPT, project managers can generate tailored communications that resonate with stakeholders, delivering project updates, insights, and summaries that align with each stakeholder’s preferences and concerns. This personalized approach not only keeps stakeholders engaged but also builds stronger trust and transparency throughout the project lifecycle.
A project manager might use Gemini to draft a weekly project summary that highlights key accomplishments, upcoming milestones, and potential issues. With GenAI’s assistance, summaries can be crafted quickly and be both informative and tailored to the stakeholder’s unique perspective. This means less time spent drafting emails and more time addressing the project’s strategic needs.
Boosting productivity with code generation and engineering tools
Highly technical projects may benefit from AI’s ability to generate and autocomplete code that can drastically reduce project timelines. GenAI tools like GitHub Copilot and Azure AI have already earned the recognition of project teams, enabling them to quickly prototype and deploy solutions. IntelliCopilot, a proprietary AI tool by Intellias designed to improve engineering productivity, further supports our project managers and engineering teams by automating repetitive tasks, enhancing coding accuracy, and even suggesting improvements to code structures. This not only saves time but also ensures higher quality standards across our projects.
Recommended GenAI tools for project managers
If you decide to integrate AI in project management, you can start your research with our list of the most popular AI project management tools. Analyze them, compare them, take them for a test drive (many offer a free trial), and choose the ones that best fit your project requirements.
| Use case | Tool | Features |
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| Scope and time management |
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| Cost management |
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| Monitoring and control |
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| Risk management |
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| Communications management |
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| Engineering team’s productivity |
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Cybersecurity in the age of generative AI
The rapid advancement of generative AI presents both immense opportunities and significant security challenges. To work properly, AI tools need to access massive volumes of data, and it’s critical to ensure its security. Also, data must be used ethically; among other considerations, no personal data should be involved in training large language models.
To guarantee the necessary level of data protection, project management platforms integrating GenAI must include advanced security measures such as automated threat detection, vulnerability assessment, and incident response. Implementing, maintaining, and providing timely updates to security mechanisms are important steps for creating a safe and trustworthy AI-powered ecosystem.
Future of GenAI and project management
Are we going to see more interesting applications of GenAI for project management? Definitely. Right now, it is already delivering on its promise. Capterra’s Project Management Survey showed that more than 90% of project managers note a positive return on their PM-related AI investments in the past 12 months.
Our experience using and developing AI assistants also inspires positive expectations. When used to complement human intelligence, knowledge, and expertise, AI has great potential for improving the overall productivity and efficiency of PM processes. At Intellias, we believe GenAI is not just a fleeting trend but a fundamental shift in how project management will evolve.
GenAI is becoming not just one of the PM tools; it’s turning into a powerful enabler. If you want to give your project management a boost, contact us for an expert consultation.
