A Look into AI and Taste
As written by Sari Azout
Prints are where we share essays that made us think differently, highlighting what resonated with us, our margin notes, and the insights worth remembering.
Further discussing the idea of how you keep the human creative along with the simple algorithmic efficiency that is modern day AI/LLMs.
The False Binary
"At first, I saw using AI as a binary choice between soulless efficiency or becoming a luddite and preserving your authentic human creativity."
"Soulless efficiency" perfectly captures how AI has been marketed to us. The internet seems trapped between "get rich quick with AI-how I made 50000 billion in one weekend with AI" schemes and outright dismissal. The nuanced middle ground rarely gets discussed.
Sari's expression, "Over the last few months, Claude has become my dream creative partner, and I haven't lost my soul. This broke my brain a little bit, " very much mirrors my own. I've looked for ways to localize my AI use where I can so that I can keep my context my own, but regardless, I cannot deny the creative partner that AI has become in the past year.
The Taste Limitation
"AI is powerful but taste-blind. It can make anything but it has no idea what's actually worth making."
"Clay of humanity's accumulated knowledge" is one hell of a phrase. It captures perfectly what we're given to mold with our own judgment. The focus on taste is a key call out; AI has no taste - it's more important than ever to develop your own!
The Curation Imperative
Now more than ever, we need to track what moves us. As Azout writes:
"But if you don't have a home for the references, quotes, notes, and highlights that moved you—what are you giving AI to work with?"
A knowledge base doesn't need to be fancy – it could be a Commonplace notebook (one of the oldest methods), your phone's notes app, or the Sublime app, which excels at this purpose; it could be something like Obsidian - It doesn’t matter, but you need to build one and keep it simple. The knowledge base should not become a second job.
The Organization Revolution
"YOUR LIFE WILL CHANGE WHEN YOU REALIZE FOLDERS AND TAGS ARE A DUMB WAY TO ORGANIZE CREATIVE INFORMATION."
I scribbled in the margin: "have I been wasting my life?"
This hurt – I love my folders and will die on that hill. But I confessed: "I can see how I can start breaking them into what I'm thinking, vs what goes in them."
Azout suggests organizing by context you'll need information in, not by topic:
"...'references for my next essay,' 'inspiration for client work', or half-baked ideas you're still marinating on..."
The Digital Diet
That phrase "dopamine-drip algorithms" – I pictured us as hamsters at the water bottle of our phones.
Her recommendation to "stop mindlessly consuming the internet and start mindfully curating it" resonates with my intentional consumption efforts. These Prints issues are part of that – bringing digital content into physical space where I can truly engage with it.
Preserving What Can't Be Measured
"The more our world becomes measurable and quantifiable, the more we need spaces that preserve what can't be measured—the hunches we can't explain, the patterns we feel but can't prove."
I noted: "What brings you joy – what gives you questions that you didn't know you needed answers."
As AI continues to evolve, what can't be automated—our personal taste and discernment—becomes more valuable, not less.
Check out the full essay on The Sublime Publication – it's worth your time and highlights.
What should I print next?
Let me know in the comments below.
When anyone can build anything, all that matters is taste.