I actually ran this specific 'Backchannel VP' scenario through raw GPT-4 before building the hard-coded version, and the results were surprisingly 'meh.'

The missing piece wasn't intelligence, but statefulness and emotional memory.

A human manager (or VP) remembers that you embarrassed them in a meeting three weeks ago, and that hidden state dictates their reaction today. LLMs—currently—are too 'forgiving' and rational. They don't hold grudges or play power games naturally.

Until AI can simulate that messy, long-term 'political capital' (or lack thereof), I think we still need humans to navigate other humans. But I agree, for pure PR review and logical feedback, I'd take an AI manager any day!