AI has both the tech and creative industries obsessing over “taste”. On one side, technologists are desperate to prove LLMs can master it, turning another human quirk into a scalable service. On the other, creatives cling to taste as a holy grail that will save them – not just from bots, but from anyone who doesn’t know what’s “good”. That tension cuts to the heart of what it means to be a creative. Here’s my take.
You Need a Soul to Consume Culture
Pre-AI, we had already reached peak ‘taste-slop’. Now we seem to be in some collective eye-roll moment where we can’t take another mediocre mood board meant to convey ‘quiet luxury’ with a hero ref of Princess Diana in casual tennis wear.
These collections of images claim to be your brand perspective but don’t really mean anything. And don’t even get me started on AI ‘taste’ – it’s a homogenised, mutant mess. There is nothing special, smart or clever about arguing with a computer until hallucinates correctly for you.
The culture I consumed as a youngster is what built my identity, not in a literal way, not via some band tees or visual choice, but in the way I am as a person. Tech without a soul cannot consume culture. That is even before it has gone through its corporate agenda.
