Thanks Zahra, glad that one landed. It's the distinction I keep coming back to. The work is easy to hand off, the judgment is the part worth protecting. I'm using AI all the time... to write, code, and create images... but I spend hours in the process of curating and editing. For my, AI doesn't so much save time as it opens up new possibilities to uplevel.
I completely agree. I really like the way you frame AI—not as a way to simply save time, but as a way to expand what’s possible. The curation and judgment are what make the work feel truly yours. Thanks for sharing this perspective!
I also liked this distinction. I’d guess people like AI specifically because it outsources the work, but in doing so it outsources the very factors that gave you your taste in the first place!
"Slop is the accumulation of unexamined defaults" is the definition this conversation has been missing - thank you for that great insight! It explains why better models won't solve it, which most of the discourse gets backwards.
What I've been thinking about since is something else you said: good taste is the preference of tastemakers "who have been given the authority to anoint." That giving feels like the other half of the essay. Developing taste is one problem, and being permitted to act on it is a different one, and in most workplaces the second resolves on standing rather than skill. The junior designer who can see the layout is wrong still doesn't get to change it.
Love the distinction between Taste and Craft
This line really resonated with me: “The danger of AI isn’t outsourcing the work. It’s outsourcing the decisions.” So true and thought-provoking.
Thanks Zahra, glad that one landed. It's the distinction I keep coming back to. The work is easy to hand off, the judgment is the part worth protecting. I'm using AI all the time... to write, code, and create images... but I spend hours in the process of curating and editing. For my, AI doesn't so much save time as it opens up new possibilities to uplevel.
I completely agree. I really like the way you frame AI—not as a way to simply save time, but as a way to expand what’s possible. The curation and judgment are what make the work feel truly yours. Thanks for sharing this perspective!
I also liked this distinction. I’d guess people like AI specifically because it outsources the work, but in doing so it outsources the very factors that gave you your taste in the first place!
So true. I completely agree with you—this is such an important point.
"Slop is the accumulation of unexamined defaults" is the definition this conversation has been missing - thank you for that great insight! It explains why better models won't solve it, which most of the discourse gets backwards.
What I've been thinking about since is something else you said: good taste is the preference of tastemakers "who have been given the authority to anoint." That giving feels like the other half of the essay. Developing taste is one problem, and being permitted to act on it is a different one, and in most workplaces the second resolves on standing rather than skill. The junior designer who can see the layout is wrong still doesn't get to change it.
I wrote an article diving into that at https://rlsutter.substack.com/p/ai-made-everyone-a-maker. I do appreciate your contributions to the discussion on "taste", and please consider my riff on it imitation as flattery
Loved this post, Thank you sir!
Very tasteful and timely. (https://prodcomic.substack.com/p/taste-manager)