Forbes argues taste, not AI, is the last defensible advantage in creative economy

In a Forbes article, Dr. Marcus Collins contends that as generative AI collapses the cost of creation to near zero, the ability to discern what is worth making becomes the new scarce resource. He introduces Branford Jones, founder of They Have The Range—a community of 1.5M people across social platforms devoted to vocal performance. Jones's curatorial eye has launched careers and resurrected legacy artists, all rooted in his personal taste. Collins draws on sociologist Pierre Bourdieu's concept of 'cultural capital' to explain that taste is not a skill that can be downloaded; it must be earned through cultural proximity and immersion. Jones's upbringing—raised in church, burning CDs, studying music marketing at Temple—gave him decades of embodied capital that an algorithm cannot replicate. "AI can never do what I do," Jones says. "It could try, but it can never be what I do." The article concludes that in an era of infinite creation, curators who possess authentic taste will hold the true power.