When Everyone Uses the Same Tools
Everyone has access to AI writing tools now. The playing field has been leveled - anyone can produce content with a few prompts. But here's what's interesting: when everyone uses the same tools, the results start looking eerily similar.
This is where taste becomes crucial. Not aesthetic preference, but the human ability to recognize what actually matters.
AI can generate mountains of content, but it can't tell you which pieces will connect with real people. It can follow patterns but can't discern which patterns are meaningful versus merely correct. It can produce "good enough" work without understanding what makes something truly good.
Take a look at content today—not all of it, but much of the written stuff. We're drowning in AI-generated blogs, social posts, and emails that check all the technical boxes but say little that’s worth reading. They follow formulas but lack unique points-of-view. They're optimized for algorithms, not us.
Taste asks different questions: Does this move people? Does it say something true? Will anyone remember it tomorrow? These questions remain stubbornly beyond AI's capabilities, and I for one am thankful. Because humanity isn’t a feature, it’s the point.
What makes taste valuable is that it can't be automated. It’s shaped by lived experience, education, cultural context, subject matter mastery, and ideals. Two people using identical AI tools but applying different taste will create entirely different results - one forgettable, one meaningful.
This explains why some brands thrive with AI while others don’t. The difference isn't the technology but the human judgment guiding and directing what it creates. Companies with strong taste use AI to amplify their distinctive voice rather than dilute it. It’s no surprise why brands that lack distinctive voice are the ones who fail to use these tools well.
There's another dimension worth noting: recognition. People can often sense when something feels algorithmic versus authentic - even without being told. This desire for “human” content will only increase as AI-generated content floods every channel.
The implications go beyond marketing. As AI expands into design, strategy, and product development, taste becomes the essential filter separating what advances our goals from what merely looks competent on the surface.
How do we develop better taste in the era of AI? Hint: it’s not through more technology, but through deeper human development. Read more. Experience art or music that you once decided “wasn’t for you.” Engage with perspectives different from your own. Get clear on your values and how you want to see the world change because of your work.
As AI tools become standard, taste will emerge as the real competitive advantage. Soon, everyone will use AI. The question is whether you're using it in ways that create meaningful distinction or simply add to the noise.
Remember: AI does the work. Taste determines if the work is worthwhile.
