In the AI Era, Taste Is the Real Competitive Advantage

For decades, the technology industry rewarded one thing above almost everything else: the ability to build. Engineers who could ship code faster and scale systems defined the hierarchy of value inside most companies. But as generative AI lowers the barrier to creating software, the bottleneck is shifting from building to attention. If anyone can generate a product, the harder question becomes: why should anyone care about it?

That answer lies less in engineering and more in taste — the ability to shape experiences, tell compelling stories, and translate technology into something people connect with emotionally. As leaders like Evan Spiegel and Sam Altman have suggested, the next competitive advantage in technology may not just be technical skill, but cultural intuition.

In an AI-driven world where building is increasingly automated, differentiation will come from design, narrative, and brand. The companies that win will not simply ship software faster. They will be the ones that make people care.