Why taste is becoming a must-have in the age of AI-driven PKM

Alright, let's pick up where we left off. We've defined taste as that personal discernment in selecting and absorbing content, but why is it suddenly feeling like a survival skill? In this era of AI tools that can recommend reads, summarize videos, and even curate feeds for you, the landscape of Personal Knowledge Management is shifting fast. Tools like ChatGPT or Perplexity are game-changers, but they also highlight why human taste is more crucial than ever.

First off, consider the context: we're drowning in content overload. Social media feeds, newsletters, and endless online resources bombard us daily. AI helps by automating suggestions, pulling in articles, podcasts, or videos, but it often produces homogenized recommendations. Everything starts to feel the same because AI draws from vast, averaged datasets. That's where taste steps in as your antidote to this "monoculture digitale." It lets you inject personality and nuance, ensuring your content consumption reflects your unique perspective rather than generic algorithms.

Now, the arguments for why it's a must-have. In an AI-driven world, taste gives you a competitive edge in authenticity and creativity. For instance, when exploring content for professional growth, AI might suggest standard career resources, but your taste helps you spot unconventional insights, like blending psychology with business strategy, that resonate deeply with your experiences. This leads to better decision-making and innovation. Discussions online emphasize that taste combats the risk of over-reliance on AI, preserving human elements like intuition and emotional resonance that machines can't replicate yet. As Kenneth Loi notes, AI amplifies taste by delegating tasks, allowing experts to apply their judgment more broadly.

Without taste, the risks are real. You might fall into bias traps, like mimicking popular trends (hello, mimetic desire) without questioning their fit for you. This leads to burnout from endless consumption or, worse, stale thinking. Imagine a manager using AI to discover reports but lacking the discernment to filter out noise. They end up with inputs that feel off because they ignored their gut.In short, as AI handles the basics, taste becomes the differentiator for turning content into wisdom. It's not optional anymore; it's what keeps your PKM human and effective. Next up, we'll dive into how to actually build this skill.