AI Is the New Collaborator. Judgment Is Your Edge.

By Matt Blair

There’s a big shift happening in what it means to be “skilled.” Thanks to AI, creating things - especially software, writing, and design - is no longer just about knowing how to build from scratch. It’s about recognizing quality, improving the rough edges, and guiding something toward a final product that actually works.

Tools like Lovable and GitHub Copilot are changing the game. You don’t need to write every line of code or worry about getting stuck on syntax. You can describe what you want, get something working in seconds, and then focus on shaping it. In some ways, coding is starting to feel more like directing or editing than traditional engineering.

This shift isn’t limited to developers. The same pattern is showing up across design, content creation, marketing - even business strategy. AI gives you a draft, a scaffold, or a spark. Your value is in what you do with it.

That puts a spotlight on skills like:

• Having a clear sense of what “good” looks like

• Spotting when something isn’t quite right

• Iterating with focus and intent

Rick Rubin summed it up well in this interview: “I have no technical skills… I just know what I like.” That mindset used to be a creative outlier. Now, it’s becoming essential.

AI is lowering the barrier to creation. But the bar for quality is still set by human judgment - your taste, your direction, your ability to know when something is done (or when it needs another pass).

That’s the new creative edge.