Human in the Loop

AI won't replace your expertise. It will expose whether you had any. Personal essays from the professional middle: the judgment calls, identity questions, and uncomfortable moments that don't show up in the frameworks. For practitioners navigating the AI transition without a script.

25 June 2026

The Messiness Premium

Polish used to prove effort. Now it indicates a machine make it.

When AI makes flawless content free, polish stops proving effort and starts signaling a machine. Why strategic imperfection is becoming a measurable premium.

Archive

9 June 2026

They’re Not Asking About Taste Anymore

What to say when a younger colleague asks how you decide.

Juniors have taste-shaped AI output before they have taste. Four questions to tell whether you're still in the work, and how to mentor through it.

16 May 2026

Professional Identity Purgatory

The version where you keep your job and lose the meaning anyway

Curtis named it for those who lost the role. The harder version belongs to the people still in the chair, no longer feeling the job is theirs.

9 May 2026

The Standup Nobody Wants to Have

Why the silence after 'I used AI' isn't awkward. It's organized.

Four separate calculations run in the room the moment somebody admits they used AI. A disclosure policy addresses none of them, because the problem was built long before the standup.

19 April 2026

You're Not a Fraud for Using AI. The Fraud Is the Silence.

A Three-Questions Audit for Transparent AI Usage

The credibility damage comes from the surprise, not the tool. Three questions will tell you where your contribution ends and the machine's begins, and give you something honest to say about it.