Perceptual Beating AI Newsletter, a16z partner Tim Sullivan wrote that as AI significantly reduces the cost of content production, the surge in "slop content" and ethical panic around AI creation is not a new phenomenon. Throughout history, from Grub Street, cheap newspapers, popular novels to TV, blogs, and social media, each cost reduction in production has brought about a large amount of low-cost content and similar cultural controversies.

The article cites social science research stating that "taste" is not a singular ability but may include judgment of success, cross-stratum information acquisition, and professional judgment formed through long-term training. Columbia University research shows that social influence and path dependence significantly impact whether a work can become a hit, making it difficult even for experts to predict stable success.

The article also cites sociologist Ron Burt's "structural holes" theory, stating that truly innovative individuals often reside between different social groups, gaining a unique perspective through cross-stratum interactions. AI can rapidly access information from different fields but struggles to fully replace the tacit knowledge, trust, and experience humans accumulate through personal involvement in multiple social networks.

Sullivan believes that after the democratization of AI, the more critical role for humans may shift to validation and judgment, with judgment requiring development through apprenticeship, feedback, and long-term practice. If companies weaken their training systems by replacing entry-level positions with AI, they may reduce costs in the short term but risk a shortage of future talent with mature judgment. Therefore, in the AI era, what may truly become scarce is not "taste" itself but rather the cultivation of talent, networks, and social infrastructure for developing sound judgment.