>I actually argue that AI will therefore impact these levels of management the most.
Not AI but bad economy and mass layoffs tend to wipe out management positions the most. As a decent IC, in case of layoffs in bad economy, you'll always find some place to work at if you're flexible with location and salary because everyone still needs people who know how to actually build shit, but nobody needs to add more managers in their ranks to consume payroll and add no value.
This is so true Especially with middle managers they are they the ones that are hit the hardest
A lot of large companies lay off swags of technical staff regularly (or watch them leave), and rotate CEOs but their middle management have jobs for life - as the Peter Principe states, they are promoted to their highest respective incompetence and stay there because no CEO has time to replace them.
AI will transform this.