Taste.
There's good taste and bad, and whilst one can argue the point, humans know both when we see them.
From Anna Wintour, to Mark Ronson, Charles Saatchi to Norman Foster there are, humans amongst us who, notwithstanding their other talents, are supremely gifted in their discernment of what is “good”. I would argue that knowing what is good, precedes and motivates getting good at making it.
There’s a certain lack of tolerance for poor taste in the above list.
(Rather than getting into the philosophical weeds on what defines “Good” and subject object duality, give Zen and the Art of Motorcycle maintenance a read and answers on a postcard).
I digress.
Great taste is rare and it’s a precursor to success in many fields.
Which begs the question - how will AI impact it?
So far, the most impressive AI gains seem to be in allowing humans with taste to shortcut the creative output. Labour saving if you will. But of course, humans with terrible taste are similarly empowered, plus AI on its own is prone to making AI Slop.
Good taste relies on good judgement - and that simple, innocuous phrase belies the complexity of this most human of endeavours. Surely It contains within it the seed of what it is to truly be human - to like or dislike things based on your unique human experience.
I’m curious. Are you seeing examples of AI leading taste yet? Or Merely augmenting humans and mimicking?
Tastemakers - are you bullish about your purpose or threatened, yet?
By Phil Blything
