Personal Taste Is the Moat
4 months ago
- #AI
- #Engineering
- #Design
- AI can review code for correctness but lacks the ability to judge whether something should exist, which requires taste.
- Taste is not subjective preference but judgment formed by exposure to great systems and understanding long-term consequences.
- A Linux kernel patch was rejected not for correctness but for design flaws, showcasing the importance of taste over AI approval.
- AI excels at pattern matching and local correctness but cannot make judgment calls about system design and long-term implications.
- In the AI era, personal taste becomes the key differentiator as correctness and execution become commoditized.
- Better AI surfaces harder design questions that require human judgment shaped by years of experience.
- AI should assist in processes but human judgment informed by taste must be the final filter for enduring systems.