When generation is free, taste is everything

Short summary

As AI makes execution nearly free and infinite, value shifts to taste — the trained judgment of knowing what's worth making. The author argues taste is not innate but developed through exposure and feedback, and can be engineered into systems like design rules. Design systems are essentially crystallized aesthetic verdicts that apply judgment at scale, suggesting the future division of labor is machines executing infinitely while humans provide discernment.

• •AI collapses execution costs, pushing value toward taste and judgment
• •Taste is trained judgment, not innate talent — it can be developed and engineered
• •Design systems are formalized taste that scales discernment beyond individual bottlenecks

Generated with AI, which can make mistakes.