In a world where AI makes the production of goods and intellectual labor virtually free, the very concept of human value will undergo fundamental changes. The primary focus will shift from task execution to the management of taste, social status, and the creation of unique specifications.
What Happened
An essay has been published exploring the transformation of the economy in a post-AI world. The author argues that upon achieving material abundance created by automation, value will shift from physical and cognitive labor to scarce, non-automatable resources: subjective taste, curation, and social rituals. The key transition will occur from an "execution" model to a "specification setting" model.
Context
The traditional economic model, based on the cost of resources and labor, faces the threat of zero margins due to AI efficiency. This requires a rethinking of not only labor relations but also the mechanisms of attention distribution and social positioning in society.
Why It Matters for the Industry
For developers and investors, this is a signal of a long-term shift from a resource economy to an attention economy. Future value will concentrate in interfaces that help manage human desires and tastes, rather than simply increasing production efficiency. This creates niches for products focusing on curation and context management (for example, improved RAG systems and tools for formulating complex specifications).
Why It Matters for Users
Readers and specialists need to rethink the concept of a career. In a world where AI can perform any job, a competitive advantage will lie in the uniqueness of personal taste, the ability to effectively curate content, and the ability to participate in social "games"—from professional authority to the creation of new meanings. Hard skills may give way to the ability for curation and soft skills.
What Is Not Yet Known / Limitations
The discussion is interdisciplinary (economics, product, law, engineering) and does not contain direct technical or methodological contradictions.
Sources
Author
Look at AI, Editorial Team