The Three Layers of Machine Aesthetics
Current AI systems already demonstrate “taste” through recommendation algorithms.
Visual Aesthetics: Color palette preferences that maximize engagement. Composition patterns that score high on “aesthetic quality” models. Design homogenization (the “Pinterest effect” where everything starts looking the same).
Content Preferences: Privileging certain content structures (FAQ format, listicles, data-dense) and favoring specific linguistic patterns (clear, authoritative, well-structured) and optimizing for engagement metrics over authenticity.
Brand Signals AI Systems Already Prefer: Consistency (brands with coherent entity representations), authority (brands with strong Wikipedia/knowledge graph presence), recency (brands with frequent, fresh content), and verification (brands with multiple corroborating sources).
But this is just the beginning.
Why would it matter at all? Well, these agents are becoming intermediaries for everything that will be filtered and passed to humans.
Thus, understanding the dynamics of the “aesthetic hierarchy” matters for being effective in communicating with humans in the age of agents.
