Lesson 7: Passing the taste test

15 years. 15 lessons.
By Matt Cooper

AI has no taste.

Just check out Elon Musk's new AI-generated version of The Odyssey, made using Grok?

Visually, it's pretty impressive.

Epic landscapes. Cinematic lighting. Detailed characters.

But it feels... dead.

Like those slightly unsettling, dead-eyed AI video avatars. Everything looks almost right, but something isn't quite working (in fact is Grok's Odyssey just Synthesia with a bit of fancy dress?!).

Anyway, there's something missing with AI videos, and I know what it is.

Taste.

It's something you develop over years of looking, studying, making things, getting them wrong, getting them right and understanding why.

The timing of a cut (one of the few instances in life where you can achieve perfection), the rhythm of an edit, the subtle glance between characters. The lighting to guide the eye, and sound design… often overlooked but capable of elevating a story to another level.

Individually, the ingredients might be brilliant.

But combining them into something that actually makes you feel!

That's where taste comes in.

I was chatting with another video producer this morning, and he made a brilliant analogy.

Nobody walks out of a great restaurant saying, "Wow, what an incredible oven!"

They compliment the chef.

The oven is a tool. The chef brings the knowledge, skill, judgement and taste.

How is AI any different?

Don't get me wrong. We're using AI at Box, and it's proving incredibly useful. Despite the tone of this post, I see the benefits of AI.

But in my eyes, AI is just a tool. Used in the right circumstances it’s excellent, but it’s not the be-all and end-all for video.

Yes the tools have changed.

The importance of taste hasn't.

Lesson 7 done. Maybe I should rebrand from ‘Box Studio’ to ‘Tasty Video  👨‍🍳👌 … maybe not.’