Agalia Tan

Embrace these powerful tools by all means, but do so with intention and clarity. Augment, but don't offload. Because efficiency without engagement isn't progress – it's a fast track to professional atrophy.

First, you need to cultivate a deeper relationship with your gut. The more our world becomes measurable and quantifiable, the more we need spaces that preserve what can't be measured—the hunches we can't explain, the patterns we feel but can't prove. A jazz musician knows when to break rules in ways no theory explains. A good copywriter can feel wh... See more

Contexts worth cultivating

One of the misconceptions about AI is that it reduces the need for expertise. The opposite is true.

LLMs operate in a vast space of linguistic possibility: every word you input shapes what comes next. Ask it to write about walking through a city and you’ll get a generic response. But ask it to explore urban wandering in the style of Walter Benjamin... See more

Curiosity is a better compass than cynicism—it shifts from defending your territory to exploring what's possible (this reframe — from Holly Herndon, was a big unlock for me).

Imagine starting every project with the clay of humanity's accumulated knowledge at your fingertips, waiting for you to mold it to your liking?

AI is powerful but taste-blind. I... See more

Novelist Toni Morrison on invention:

"If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it. The same is true of any endeavor: if the solution you seek doesn't exist, create it."