You nailed it. As an audio engineer I have already lived through the change. In the early 2000s the music industry got hit with a few whammies. File sharing made music free and advances in tech gave anyone with a computer and a spare room a recording studio. The shift was slower than AI but it felt like i lost my job overnight as more and more artists opted to record and mix themselves. Despite the crappy technical quality of the recordings, people still listened to it and liked it and the only ones who noticed the difference were other pro audio engineers.
Fast forward to today where artists don't sell their music, but instead use it as a tool to build their social media presence (which didn't exist back then btw) and make money off of selling other products to their followers meanwhile the trained professional audio engineer is gradually moving towards extinction.
In conclusion, the skill to do what used to be my job has been greatly reduced, and the ones who are thriving in the "new" environment are the ones who could see how to work with it and envision what could be done within it. The music industry still exists, people are still making a living in it but just in a different way. Looking back i see that i missed out on a huge opportunity in that change. AI is doing the same but to just about everything and I don't plan on making the same mistake twice and I encourage you to do the same.
Thank you very much for your insight Kyhan! This is such a good parallel. I have some experience with this as well as a former musician who has seen both sides of audio engineering (at home and in professional studios). You’re describing exactly the shift I’m pointing at. The technical barrier has collapsed, and skill stops being the barrier of entry. Taste, framing, and knowing what to build becomes the moat.
And I really respect the honesty about missing the first wave and choosing not to miss this one. That mindset alone is already adaptation.
That was not a reply for your message but the initial comment. My bad.
You wrote a very lovely article and i could relate to the those that have taste because as we advance in society into a more abundant timeline, people now want something they can feel.
Great read! I feel like there's an interesting nuance to capture here.
First, I think you're right AI compresses the time to make a first draft so much that a good prompt gets 80% of a skilled person’s first draft in seconds.
But after that, I see that the gap shrinks fast.
I diver a bit here because I can see clearly that skill still wins. It's just shifted up a level.
Writers and marketers who dominate social media aren’t winning because their sentences are prettier.
They win because they’re probably better at creating systems on what makes writing good and content engaging. Expecially when it comes to
taste & distribution instinct (what resonates, timing, threading)
To me that’s not less skill. It’s higher-order skill: systems thinking + taste + speed.
To sum up, AI didn’t kill expertise. It raised the ceiling.
Thank you very much for your input, I appreciate it! I think we agree for the most part there’s just a bit of a mix up with wording. I see you mention higher order skill and one of the factors there being taste, I just simply define taste as a seperate entity. Other than that we’re on the same page.
You nailed it. As an audio engineer I have already lived through the change. In the early 2000s the music industry got hit with a few whammies. File sharing made music free and advances in tech gave anyone with a computer and a spare room a recording studio. The shift was slower than AI but it felt like i lost my job overnight as more and more artists opted to record and mix themselves. Despite the crappy technical quality of the recordings, people still listened to it and liked it and the only ones who noticed the difference were other pro audio engineers.
Fast forward to today where artists don't sell their music, but instead use it as a tool to build their social media presence (which didn't exist back then btw) and make money off of selling other products to their followers meanwhile the trained professional audio engineer is gradually moving towards extinction.
In conclusion, the skill to do what used to be my job has been greatly reduced, and the ones who are thriving in the "new" environment are the ones who could see how to work with it and envision what could be done within it. The music industry still exists, people are still making a living in it but just in a different way. Looking back i see that i missed out on a huge opportunity in that change. AI is doing the same but to just about everything and I don't plan on making the same mistake twice and I encourage you to do the same.
Thank you very much for your insight Kyhan! This is such a good parallel. I have some experience with this as well as a former musician who has seen both sides of audio engineering (at home and in professional studios). You’re describing exactly the shift I’m pointing at. The technical barrier has collapsed, and skill stops being the barrier of entry. Taste, framing, and knowing what to build becomes the moat.
And I really respect the honesty about missing the first wave and choosing not to miss this one. That mindset alone is already adaptation.
You clocked the pattern, held yourself accountable for your mistake, you half way through already, now is to become.
Could you elaborate on what you mean here? Which mistake, and to become what?
That was not a reply for your message but the initial comment. My bad.
You wrote a very lovely article and i could relate to the those that have taste because as we advance in society into a more abundant timeline, people now want something they can feel.
Thank you very much for clarifying Adege! I really appreciate that the article resonated with you as well, it means a lot to me!
Great read! I feel like there's an interesting nuance to capture here.
First, I think you're right AI compresses the time to make a first draft so much that a good prompt gets 80% of a skilled person’s first draft in seconds.
But after that, I see that the gap shrinks fast.
I diver a bit here because I can see clearly that skill still wins. It's just shifted up a level.
Writers and marketers who dominate social media aren’t winning because their sentences are prettier.
They win because they’re probably better at creating systems on what makes writing good and content engaging. Expecially when it comes to
taste & distribution instinct (what resonates, timing, threading)
To me that’s not less skill. It’s higher-order skill: systems thinking + taste + speed.
To sum up, AI didn’t kill expertise. It raised the ceiling.
Thank you very much for your input, I appreciate it! I think we agree for the most part there’s just a bit of a mix up with wording. I see you mention higher order skill and one of the factors there being taste, I just simply define taste as a seperate entity. Other than that we’re on the same page.
Nice. Thanks for clarifying!
Ofcourse thank you again!
Beautifully conveyed🙏🏼
Thank you very much Signal!