You Can’t Prompt Taste or Luck

Things feel heavy lately.
Some days I’ve got my eyes on the road, but my heart’s out of it.
Everything starts to feel scripted… like the whole world is reading from a bad script.

You’ve probably felt it too.

ChatGPT advises me not to talk like this. It says: “Reza, don’t speak emotionally. You’ll confuse people.”

Exactly. That’s the damn point!

If you’re an artist, clarity isn’t always the goal.
Sometimes your job is to make things harder.
More layered.
To shift perspective.
To break the pattern.
That’s how people feel something.
That’s how they see.

In a world full of polished, fake, optimized everything… emotion is our leverage.

So yeah, I still believe in AI. A lot.

Because it might be the thing that finally forces us to be ourselves. When everyone’s using the same powerful tools, what’s left?

You. Your taste. Your madness. Your emotions. Your decisions.

I recently directed and produced a new episode of our web series, Design Decoded, featuring legendary designer Scott Robertson.

He says the same thing, just in his own language: That curiosity, bravery, and a willingness to explore other worlds is how you tame the machine.

▶️ Watch it here

This is one of the most honest stories I’ve told about AI. Scott’s not talking theory. He’s doing the work. His approach can help any creative see AI differently. Not just as a tool, but as a way to build their own world.

Anyways…

People keep asking how we got those shots with the Waymo cars.
I usually laugh and just say, “It’s Hollywood.”

But that was damn pure luck.

And honestly, luck’s just what happens when the human weirdness gets through.
You can’t plan it. You can’t prompt it!

Massive kudos to my cinematographer Dustin Pearlman and Andrew Baxter for making it happen.

If you know someone who’d get something out of this episode or this newsletter, send it their way.

I’ll be in SF and Mexico City soon. Say hi if you’re around.

—Reza