"In 2025, you may have heard a familiar line repeated across the product world: "In the age of AI, taste might be the only remaining advantage for product managers." Yet few people clearly explain what "taste" actually means. Is it innate talent or a skill that can be trained? And when AI can already write copy, design wireframes, and run analysis for us - what role does taste still play in building products?"
"Because AI is making the world faster - and rougher. This phenomenon, which he describes as "AI-driven coarsening," shows up everywhere: Social media posts are increasingly complete and polished, yet oddly lifeless E-commerce pages are packed with flawless copy, but nothing truly persuades you Product proposals from junior PMs are logically sound and well-structured, yet leave you thinking: everything looks right, but something feels wrong"
AI raises the baseline speed and polish of product work, producing many acceptable but undifferentiated outputs, a phenomenon labeled "AI-driven coarsening." Polished artifacts often feel lifeless or fail to persuade despite structural competence. As building becomes easier, creating distinctive, high-quality products becomes harder. Product taste functions as practical judgment: the ability to choose which among many "pretty good" options deserve investment. Taste is shaped by sensitivity, standards, and company culture rather than by AI. Developing taste requires training attention, applying standards, and making trade-offs that AI cannot resolve for humans.
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