By Julie Zhuo · lg.substack.com · @joulee on X · LinkedIn
Julie Zhuo argues that as AI systems get better at producing polished work, the traditional signals of skill and craft are eroding, pushing people to ask what human contribution still matters. The essay frames this around taste: the ability to judge what is good, not just to produce it. It matters for product people because AI makes execution cheap, so discernment, curation, and point of view become a more central part of building products. Note that only a single line of source text was provided, so this metadata reflects the title, subtitle, and the epigraph rather than the full argument.
01Key takeaways
- As production gets cheap, judgment about what is worth making becomes a scarcer and more valuable skill.
- Build a deliberate point of view by studying what you find beautiful and why, not just what works.
- Use AI to generate many options, then apply your own criteria to select and refine.
- Treat taste as a trainable practice: critique widely, compare deliberately, and articulate reasons for preferences.
- Watch for AI-driven homogenization of design and writing, and protect distinctive choices in your products.
02Key sections
- Opening epigraph
- The essay opens with a Wittgenstein observation that seeing something beautiful creates a desire to make it. This sets up a link between perceiving quality and wanting to create.
- Machines taking over skills
- The subtitle suggests AI has moved into areas once reserved for human craft. The piece traces how capabilities that signaled expertise have become automatable.
- Infiltrating aesthetics
- The subtitle indicates AI-generated output is shaping visual and stylistic norms. This points to questions about where defaults come from and how taste gets homogenized.
- The remaining human advantage
- The essay's closing claim is that taste may be the last durable edge people hold over machines. The argument centers on judgment as the distinguishing human skill.
03From the post
“Wittgenstein once wrote that when the eye sees something beautiful, the hand wants to draw it.”
Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.