Taste vs. AI

Every few decades, a new technology shows up and we’re told it’s going to blow up culture as we know it. AI is the latest suspect. It can write, design and even curate – so naturally, there’s panic about what this means for “taste”. 

You’ve seen the headlines and think-pieces warning of a post-human aesthetic wasteland: large language models cranking out novels, generative tools designing fashion collections, AI curators assembling playlists and moodboards.

But we've been here before.

With the advent of the internet, and later social media, the old cultural gatekeepers were already losing their grip. Tumblr blogs, Instagram feeds and TikTokers turning bedrooms into broadcast studios rewrote the rules, turning “good taste” from an elite club into an open group chat.

Now, The Atlantic insists that “Good Taste Is More Important Than Ever,” framing AI as the force that might cheapen human discernment. It’s a compelling setup – machines on one side, refined palates on the other – but maybe it’s skipping the prequel. That seismic shift in taste didn’t begin with ChatGPT; it started the moment broadband hit bedrooms.

Join us on 10th September where we'll be tackling these tensions and discussing:

• If AI is a new revolution, or just the latest remix of a story we’ve already lived – technology reshaping how taste is made, shared and challenged?
• If algorithms can now mimic aesthetic judgement, does that free us from the old hierarchies or trap us in slicker, invisible ones? 
• For artists and audiences, it’s personal – and a fight to stay visible. For brands, it’s a race to hold onto cultural capital in a world where machines can fake it, fast.

Expect hot takes, unexpected alliances and maybe a few existential crises about whether a machine can ever really “know” what’s cool.

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