Why your personal taste matters more than ever

And how to channel it to stay relevant during the AI revolution

Dear builder, if you’re new here … welcome! This newsletter is my semi-regular attempt to share what I’m working on, what I’m thinking about, and what influences my work as a builder. This week’s topic has been swirling around in my brain since I listened to this podcast earlier this year. It made me reevaluate many of the simple actions I take in my life through the algorithmic lens. Do I want this Stanley Cup because I’ve seen 42 TikTokers drinking out of it, or does it functionally provide some value that I’m missing (more so than the 11 other water bottles I own)? Cringes 🙃 Anyways, read on for thoughts on how investing in your taste is a good move as a builder because it’ll help you stay relevant as more and more of our world is generated by AI.

illustration by Veronica Polonskaya

A few weeks back Ezra Klein dropped a podcast that I have not been able to stop thinking about. He interviewed Kyle Chayka, a staff writer at The New Yorker, who was promoting his book “Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture.” The podcast discusses the algorithmically-driven digital world we encounter every day and how it’s influencing our personal taste as we spend more time online.

Personal taste refers to an individual's unique preferences and inclinations towards certain styles, aesthetics, activities, or ideas, shaped by their experiences, culture, personality, and environment. -ChatGPT

Chayka unpacks the implications of living in a ‘filter bubble,’ which reinforces our preexisting beliefs and isolates us from differing viewpoints. He also digs into the ‘commodification of aesthetics,’ which I’ve personally noticed in the real world and in the digital products I consume every day. So much looks the same these days!

The question I’ve been noodling on is what happens when we all consume similar content, will this make more of our individual tastes the same? It’s a great podcast and an interesting read (Should we start a Builder’s book club?!)

Beach read status!

The role of a builder is evolving quickly

So what does this have to do with building stuff? A lot! The job of a builder is going to be completely different in the next decade. The technology stack is collapsing, making technical barriers to entry lower. AI will lower the floor and raise the ceiling. The work you do, which will increasingly be facilitated by AI tools, will be more cross-functional, broader, and less function-specific. You’ll be doing more than before and critiquing AI outputs will become a big part of your job.

Your taste comes into play in this brave new world, because it is what will help you build products that stand out in the increasing sameness of the Internet. We will notice people and products that break through the monoculture. Your taste is what will help you ship stuff that feels unique and fresh!

Will AI taste get there eventually?

The short answer is maybe? In the same way it’s hard to teach humans good taste quickly, my guess is AI will be the same. Personal taste reminds me of the 10,000-hour rule:

The 10,000-hour rule suggests mastering a skill requires about 10,000 hours of practice, emphasizing dedication and persistent effort towards achieving expertise. It's a reminder that success is not instant but a product of consistent, focused work over time. -ChatGPT

It’s similar for you, your taste is generated from traveling the meandering path of life. Your cultural background, personal interests, where you invest your time and spend your energy, all accumulate to build your taste. It’s a beautiful part of being human, as unique as your fingerprints.

AI is different. While AI can generate recs based on criteria and improve over time by learning from patterns and signals, its capability has boundaries. This is good news because it allows you to exploit those boundaries to stay relevant 🙃

Here are some of the hard edges I’ve been noticing with AI:

• Subjectivity is hard: Taste is inherently subjective, shaped by personal experiences, cultural backgrounds, and emotional connections. AI, in its current form, struggles with these nuances because it cannot experience or internalize the world in the way humans do.

• Empathy is inherently human: While AI can simulate responses that seem empathetic, this simulation lacks the genuine understanding and feeling behind true empathy.

• Culture is nuanced: Culture is dynamic, rich, and often abstract, making it difficult for AI to fully understand and integrate into its 'decision-making' process.

While AI can approximate a sense of taste based on data and patterns, it’ll be a while before it can match the depth and complexity of human taste shaped by emotions, culture, and personal experiences. Your humanness keeps ya relevant, lean into it!

How to invest in your taste

The fun thing about taste-building is that the exercise takes you on a self-discovery journey. I love to read and spend a lot of time reading and writing as a way to taste-build (I average a book a week!). I’m also an appreciator of the aesthetics which sends me into museums, thinking about design, deep down the TikTok fashion rabbit hole, etc. Here are other things you can do:

• Lean into the fucking weird. Alex Dobrenko` encourages us: “To tilt away from the platforms that make us feel like machines and toward the rooms full of weird artists who make us remember that it is the tilt itself - the err - the weird - that makes us human.” For the love of god keep it weird!

• Create and curate: Put your taste out there by creating and curating. Explore what truly resonates with you by writing about it/recording a video on it/sharing it with people!

• Practice empathy: Do the noble work of seeking to understand our fellow humans. Let their humanity ground you.

• Stay curious: Cultivate a habit of questioning and exploring. Learn to recognize AI content. Question it! Push past it.

• Challenge mimetic desire: Don’t fall into the trap of wanting what others want. Ask yourself often, "Does this truly represent my taste, or am I just an AI normie following the masses?" 🐑

Your taste is a reflection of who you are and what you bring to the world; nurture it, and let it be your signature!

The above Tweet from Sari Azout made me wonder, could anyone other than Greta Gerwig have made the Barbie movie what it was? Truly a reflection of her taste and vision! Here’s how to leverage your taste while you’re building:

• Listen to your gut: Your intuition and your proclivities are what will set your work apart. Learn how to recognize them!

• Keep it quirky (keep it human): Lean into your own quirks and humanness. It doesn’t need to be perfect, it should just reflect you 🪞 If you’re using ChatGPT to help you create, rework in your own voice.

• Authenticity resonates: In a world saturated with copycat ideas and trends, originality absolutely stands out. Infuse your work with elements that reflect your personal journey, preferences, and perspectives.

• Find your niche: What are you uniquely qualified to build, opine on, or design? Lean into your own niche that you’ve carved out through your meandering experiences. I’m trying to do this with this newsletter, is it resonating?!

How do you think about your personal taste? How will AI influence it? How does your taste influence your work? Share more in the comments below!