Jack Butcher on Taste
From building Visualize Value since 2019.
Taste is the human judgment that determines what AI output is worth keeping. Generation is free. Curation is the skill that can't be automated.
Everyone has access to the same AI tools. The same models, the same prompts, the same capabilities. The output quality varies enormously. The variable is taste.
Taste is knowing which of the ten generated options is the good one. It's knowing when the AI missed the point. It's knowing what to ask for in the first place.
"Same tools, different taste." Two people use the same AI to write an article. One produces generic content. The other produces something distinctive. The AI was identical. The human judgment was not.
Taste develops through exposure. The more good work you've seen, the better you evaluate new work. Reading, studying, practicing, failing — each one calibrates your internal quality filter.
This is why context compounds. A person with 10 years of experience in a field can evaluate AI output in that field instantly. A beginner cannot. The experience isn't in the AI. It's in the person using it.
"The human premium" is taste. As AI makes generation free, the ability to curate becomes the scarce skill. The person who can look at 100 AI-generated options and pick the right one creates more value than the person who generates 100 more.
In his words
Generation is free. Curation isn't.
Same tools, different taste.
Complexity impresses your peers. Clarity impresses your customers.
The trick is to practice until it looks like magic to everyone who hasn't practiced.
If it looks simple, it was hard.
Where this applies
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