It’s never been easier in human history to think of something—an app, an ad, a video—and make it instantly. But when everyone is using the same tools to do the same things, how will anyone stand out in an AI-generated sea of sameness?

As AI removes the friction around making a lot of stuff very quickly, the “raw output,” as Marvin Chow, Google’s VP of Global Marketing, puts it, will lose value, while smart decision-making will only increase in value. AI has solved the problem of production, which means perspective is now the scarcest resource in the creative process.

Why taste matters more than ever

This reality has given rise to the tech industry’s new favorite buzzword: taste. It’s become shorthand for the sustained value of judgment and discernment in the AI age—the ability to determine what’s worth making and to critically evaluate what’s been made.

"This emphasis on tasteful decision-making makes sense, given that AI is gradually democratizing technological production. With the powerful likes of Anthropic’s Claude Code assistant, anyone can theoretically program anything.… The only task left is to decide what to make, as one might request a wish from a genie."

-Kyle Chayka, The New Yorker

How Instrument puts taste into practice

At Instrument, we see the use of technology and the application of taste going hand-in-hand. For 20 years, we’ve been a group of thinkers and tinkerers—people who not only talk about a thing but actually build it. To date, we’ve built more than 30 AI-powered tools for our clients. Along the way, we’ve developed ways of weaving technology and intentionality into our process:

1. Being innovative in what we create
   We explore beyond the brief to create original ideas that your competitors can’t easily replicate. Anyone can build a bland and generic AI assistant; it takes original thinking to create a weird and wonderful expression of your brand (think: Clippy).
2. Be intentional in how we create
   AI can do almost anything, but it requires sound judgment to know where and when it’s most helpful in the creative process. Whether we’re using AI to rapidly prototype ideas and move from imagination to reality faster, or training models on the brand systems we’ve built to gut-check our work, we’re strategic in how we apply AI.
3. Show discernment in how we curate
   Next comes the ruthless culling of ideas, concepts, and creations—interrogating, challenging, and iterating on what AI has produced to land on a final product that’s authentically on-brand and truly distinct.

Building for what's next

As technology evolves—and our applications evolve with it—we’re sharing learnings, systems, and use cases across Instrument to build a connected "Instrument intelligence": an evolving approach to embedding AI into brand, product, and marketing experiences in ways that stay coherent, scalable, and distinctly human. Because even as AI gets better at mimicking taste, creating systems that foster original thinking and unique perspectives will matter even more.

"The companies that win in this next era will not be the ones that adopt AI the fastest. They will be the ones that use it with the most intention, the most imagination, and the highest standards."

-Andy Prondak, Head of Technology, Instrument