AI Doesn’t Kill Taste — Lack of Direction Does

It’s easy to blame AI for the erosion of taste.
The argument is familiar: everything looks the same, culture feels flattened, visual identity is dissolving.

But AI didn’t remove taste.
It removed the friction that once hid its absence.

Taste didn’t disappear.
Responsibility did.

What People Actually Mean When They Say “AI Has No Taste”

When people say AI has no taste, they usually mean something else. They’re reacting to images that feel generic, undecided, and interchangeable. The mistake is blaming the output instead of the process.

AI generates options.
Taste selects relevance.

When selection is skipped, delegated, or postponed, everything looks equally acceptable. That’s not a failure of technology. That’s a failure of judgment.

Taste Is Not Style

Style is visible. Taste is structural.

Style lives on the surface: trends, aesthetics, references. Taste operates underneath. It’s about hierarchy, refusal, and limits. Taste shows up less in what is chosen and more in what is rejected.

AI produces endless style.
Taste limits it.

Without limits, style collapses into noise.

Why AI Makes the Problem Visible

Before AI, effort acted as a filter. Time, cost, and friction forced decisions. Weak taste could hide behind production constraints.

AI removes that buffer.

Volume replaces scarcity. Speed replaces reflection. When everything is possible, indecision becomes obvious. AI didn’t lower the bar — it removed the excuses that once protected vague choices.

Direction Is the Activation Layer

Taste alone is inert. It becomes real only when activated through direction.

Direction turns taste into decisions. It decides what enters the frame, what is excluded, and what tension is protected. Without direction, taste stays theoretical. It never survives contact with production.

Taste without direction doesn’t fail loudly.
It quietly disappears.

Why Brands Feel This First

Brands rely on taste at scale. They need coherence across hundreds of outputs, not isolated hits. AI multiplies whatever leadership brings into the system.

When direction is weak, sameness spreads fast. When direction is strong, AI becomes an amplifier instead of a threat.

Homogeneity is not a tech issue.
It’s a leadership issue.

The Real Risk

The real risk isn’t AI replacing creatives.
It’s decision-making being deferred indefinitely.

Delegating judgment to tools. Hiding behind options. Mistaking speed for progress. AI accelerates whatever is already there — clarity or confusion.

Closing

Taste still matters.
But direction decides whether it shows up.

AI doesn’t kill taste.
Lack of direction does.