Everything In Conversation: Taste, Tasteslop & Tabis

From Everything Is Content by Beth, Ruchira & Oenone

June 24, 2026 · 31 min · Season 2 · Episode 172

About this episode

The episode discusses the challenges of AI replicating human taste and the cultural implications of taste in society.

Hello EIChloe Sevignys, this week, one of the big cultural talking points is can AI ever replicate taste? And should we all be actively protecting our own, regardless of how good or bad it is? In March, Kyle Chayka wrote a piece for The New Yorker titled: Why Tech Bros Are Now Obsessed with Taste. In it, he quoted several key tech figures who present taste as the final frontier for AI tech bros - almost like the one human trait they’re finding impossible to replicate. In May, Trend forecaster and founder of the strategy firm Nemesis Global, Emily Segal, coined the term “tasteslop” to describe the repetitive, recycled visuals littering the internet that feel devoid of any human point of view, almost like gorgeous blandness. Lots of it, she points out, feels like this because it’s generated by AI and then replicated over and over. And of course, last week, Polyester released ‘The Polyester Book of Bad Taste’, a collection of essays edited by its editor-in-chief Ione Gamble. The book is described as an antidote to ever-creeping homogeneity and bland tastefulness. “In a world constantly vying for our attention, having faith in your own (bad) taste is more than a small…

People in this episode

Hosts: Beth, Ruchira, Oenone

Topics covered

AI and taste
cultural commentary
technological anxiety
taste and identity
homogeneity in culture

Keywords

taste
AI
cultural commentary
tasteslop
homogeneity
bad taste
technology

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The New Yorker, Nemesis Global, Polyester

Books & works: The Polyester Book of Bad Taste, Why Tech Bros Are Now Obsessed with Taste, TASTESLOP: Notes on technological anxiety