Kyle Chayka
Staff writer at The New Yorker, where he writes the Infinite Scroll column, and author of Filterworld and The Longing for Less.
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What they believe
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AI models default to generic, lowest-common-denominator output unless a user actively pushes back against them.
If the user doesn't actively push back against the AI model, then they get the generic output, the lowest common acceptable denominator of aesthetics and taste.
kylechayka.substack.comSaid 29 Jun 2026This on korrents
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Most digital creators are converging on parasocial 'show' formats built to gather and monetize audiences.
This is the "show": everyone is trying to build parasocial multimedia franchises that gather audiences, and then sell ads, or subscriptions, or spon con on them.
kylechayka.substack.comSaid 12 Jun 2026This on korrents
The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These 2: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.
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As its own page →Hiding
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29 June
From one piece The generic style of AI web design 3 beliefs · kylechayka.substack.com
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Their words
this kind of instantly ubiquitous homogeneity is going to happen across every field of human endeavor in the era of AI, until AI gets so powerful that it actually becomes original (doubtful) or until we shut it down.
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korrents.com
Getting genuinely original output from AI requires working hard against the grain of its defaults.Their words
You have to work very hard, against a lot of friction, to get anything remotely original out of AI.
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korrents.com
AI models default to generic, lowest-common-denominator output unless a user actively pushes back against them.Their words
If the user doesn't actively push back against the AI model, then they get the generic output, the lowest common acceptable denominator of aesthetics and taste.
12 June
From one piece Everything on the internet is a "show" 2 beliefs · kylechayka.substack.com
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korrents.com
Social media no longer works for writers to reach an audience; newsletters are a better channel.Their words
As discussed, social media doesn't work for writers anymore. Newsletters are way better.
Everything on the internet is a "show"kylechayka.substack.com
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korrents.com
Most digital creators are converging on parasocial 'show' formats built to gather and monetize audiences.Their words
This is the "show": everyone is trying to build parasocial multimedia franchises that gather audiences, and then sell ads, or subscriptions, or spon con on them.
Everything on the internet is a "show"kylechayka.substack.com
28 May
From one piece RIP Millennial lifestyle brands 3 beliefs · kylechayka.substack.com
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Their words
So it's no wonder that the artists and designers whose livelihoods are threatened by it have begun moving aggressively in the opposite direction, toward the scrawled, the sloppy, the seemingly mistake-riddled.
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Their words
The globalization of generative AI models and tools has caused a kind of leveling, as any aspiring creator anywhere can work in the same visual idioms.
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Their words
"Slop" is fast becoming the central metaphor for the cultural output of the late twenty-twenties.
26 March
From one piece Why tech bros are obsessed with "taste" 3 beliefs · kylechayka.substack.com
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korrents.com
The online ecosystem has become so degraded that it has impaired people's ability to exercise taste.Their words
Another conclusion might be that the online ecosystem has become so polluted-so fragmented, deceptive, overstimulating, ersatz-that it has warped our ability to exercise taste at all.
Why tech bros are obsessed with "taste"kylechayka.substack.com
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korrents.com
Tech's embrace of 'taste' is an attempt to dress anti-humanist technology in humanist branding.Their words
We might call what's going on now "taste-washing," an attempt to give anti-humanist technologies a veneer of liberal humanism.
Why tech bros are obsessed with "taste"kylechayka.substack.com
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korrents.com
AI companies promote themselves around 'taste' because their products are unappealing outside tech circles.Their words
A.I. companies need to associate themselves with taste precisely because their tools are not very palatable, much less cool, to anyone outside of Silicon Valley.
Why tech bros are obsessed with "taste"kylechayka.substack.com
27 August 2025
From one piece How to survive a TikTok hit song 2 beliefs · kylechayka.substack.com
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Their words
It's very relatable; the internet is so toxic but we kind of have no choice but to interact with it if we want to be heard as musicians / writers / artists / citizens.
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Their words
The band told me about the pressure of creating content in order to promote their music and the ways in which the audience now has power over how songs sound.
20 August 2025
From one piece Labubus and the brainrot aesthetic 2 beliefs · kylechayka.substack.com
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Their words
Any pretense of the pure or organic is undercut by a kind of willful alchemy; everything is an admixture.
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Their words
I think this slop-adjacent realm of dupe products and Instagrammable potions points to our increasingly desperate need to manipulate our own images, and an acceptance of the fact that we're kind of hybridized monsters ourselves in this post-A.I. human-machine moment
9 May 2025
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Nothing matches.
Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 19 beliefs — each backed by an exact quote.
Each is a — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.
Recent
AI models default to generic, lowest-common-denominator output unless a user actively pushes back against them.
If the user doesn't actively push back against the AI model, then they get the generic output, the lowest common acceptable denominator of aesthetics and taste.
The generic style of AI web design Said 29 Jun 2026
Getting genuinely original output from AI requires working hard against the grain of its defaults.
You have to work very hard, against a lot of friction, to get anything remotely original out of AI.
The generic style of AI web design Said 29 Jun 2026
AI-driven homogenization will spread across every field of human endeavor until AI becomes truly original or is curbed.
this kind of instantly ubiquitous homogeneity is going to happen across every field of human endeavor in the era of AI, until AI gets so powerful that it actually becomes original (doubtful) or until we shut it down.
The generic style of AI web design Said 29 Jun 2026
Show 16 more
Most digital creators are converging on parasocial 'show' formats built to gather and monetize audiences.
This is the "show": everyone is trying to build parasocial multimedia franchises that gather audiences, and then sell ads, or subscriptions, or spon con on them.
Everything on the internet is a "show" Said 12 Jun 2026
Social media no longer works for writers to reach an audience; newsletters are a better channel.
As discussed, social media doesn't work for writers anymore. Newsletters are way better.
Everything on the internet is a "show" Said 12 Jun 2026
Slop is becoming the defining cultural metaphor of the late 2020s.
"Slop" is fast becoming the central metaphor for the cultural output of the late twenty-twenties.
RIP Millennial lifestyle brands Said 28 May 2026
The globalization of generative AI tools has leveled creative production, letting people everywhere work in the same visual idioms.
The globalization of generative AI models and tools has caused a kind of leveling, as any aspiring creator anywhere can work in the same visual idioms.
RIP Millennial lifestyle brands Said 28 May 2026
Artists whose livelihoods are threatened by AI-generated content are turning toward deliberately rough, handmade aesthetics as a response.
So it's no wonder that the artists and designers whose livelihoods are threatened by it have begun moving aggressively in the opposite direction, toward the scrawled, the sloppy, the seemingly mistake-riddled.
RIP Millennial lifestyle brands Said 28 May 2026
AI companies promote themselves around 'taste' because their products are unappealing outside tech circles.
A.I. companies need to associate themselves with taste precisely because their tools are not very palatable, much less cool, to anyone outside of Silicon Valley.
Why tech bros are obsessed with "taste" Said 26 Mar 2026
Tech's embrace of 'taste' is an attempt to dress anti-humanist technology in humanist branding.
We might call what's going on now "taste-washing," an attempt to give anti-humanist technologies a veneer of liberal humanism.
Why tech bros are obsessed with "taste" Said 26 Mar 2026
The online ecosystem has become so degraded that it has impaired people's ability to exercise taste.
Another conclusion might be that the online ecosystem has become so polluted-so fragmented, deceptive, overstimulating, ersatz-that it has warped our ability to exercise taste at all.
Why tech bros are obsessed with "taste" Said 26 Mar 2026
Online audiences now hold real power over how songs are made to sound.
The band told me about the pressure of creating content in order to promote their music and the ways in which the audience now has power over how songs sound.
How to survive a TikTok hit song Said 27 Aug 2025
Being heard as an artist or citizen today requires engaging with a toxic internet.
It's very relatable; the internet is so toxic but we kind of have no choice but to interact with it if we want to be heard as musicians / writers / artists / citizens.
How to survive a TikTok hit song Said 27 Aug 2025
People's desperate need to manipulate their own image, and their acceptance of being human-machine hybrids in the AI era, is reflected in current ugly, artificial-feeling consumer aesthetics.
I think this slop-adjacent realm of dupe products and Instagrammable potions points to our increasingly desperate need to manipulate our own images, and an acceptance of the fact that we're kind of hybridized monsters ourselves in this post-A.I. human-machine moment
Labubus and the brainrot aesthetic Said 20 Aug 2025
Contemporary consumer products no longer claim purity or naturalness; they present themselves openly as artificial mixtures.
Any pretense of the pure or organic is undercut by a kind of willful alchemy; everything is an admixture.
Labubus and the brainrot aesthetic Said 20 Aug 2025
The Trump-Musk government's approach descends from a Silicon Valley ideology that prizes frictionless technology built by elite engineers over messy human institutions.
But the underlying ideology is familiar from Silicon Valley, Mark Zuckerberg's dictum to "move fast and break things" and replace the messily human with frictionless technology, built by elite engineers who are supposed to know better than anyone else.
The history of techno-fascism Said 28 Feb 2025
Taste is not just pretentious or elitist: everybody has it.
taste gets a bad rap sometimes as something that can be pretentious or elitist, but I think we all have taste.
'Filterworld' explores how social media algorithms 'flatten' our culture (Fresh Air, NPR) Said 17 Jan 2024
Algorithmic feeds seem to have nudged people into conforming to each other, a homogenised culture in which everyone accepts the average.
My feeling is that algorithmic feeds and recommendations have kind of guided us into conforming to each other and kind of having this homogenization of culture where we all accept the average of what everyone's doing.
'Filterworld' explores how social media algorithms 'flatten' our culture (Fresh Air, NPR) Said 17 Jan 2024
Fashion is for saying something about yourself, not for conforming to a data-driven standard.
distorting the purpose of fashion, which is actually to communicate something about yourself, not to conform to some data-driven standard.
'Filterworld' explores how social media algorithms 'flatten' our culture (Fresh Air, NPR) Said 17 Jan 2024
What is a korrent?
A korrent is a belief a person has stated in their own words: one sentence stating the claim, backed by a quote and a source, kept at korrents.com.
Under a name here, the quoted block is what they actually said. The korrent beneath it is the claim those words support, in korrents' wording — tap it to see the record, its source, and who else holds it.
Nobody here wrote their own korrents. They are compiled from public statements, and a person can change their mind, which is recorded too.
Recommends rcmnd
rcmnd What they recommend 4 things — each backed by an exact quote.
Compiled by rcmnd.app, not by them: the quotes are theirs, and each links to the post it was copied from.
Recent
Uses Zojirushi
Turn on the rice cooker for normal or quick cooking (I have a Zojirushi, either setting works).
kylechayka.substack.com 4 Nov 2023
Loved Stay True
Hua Hsu's memoir Stay True: This book is now out in paperback, and you probably don't need me recommending it (it won a Pulitzer), but it is fantastic.
kylechayka.substack.com 4 Nov 2023
Recommends Family Meal
Bryan Washington's novel Family Meal: Bryan is the great millennial fiction writer of food, among many other talents. His descriptions of cooking and meals are fantastically rich, as much for the food itself as for the social and emotional exchange involved.
kylechayka.substack.com 4 Nov 2023
Show 1 more
Recommends The Vulnerables
Sigrid Nunez's novel The Vulnerables: Nunez's most famous novel, The Friend, was what you get when you take autofiction from a well-established NYC writer and add a big, friendly dog.
kylechayka.substack.com 4 Nov 2023
Where they publish
Site kylechayka.com His personal site, listing his New Yorker column, books and newsletters.
Link verified 5 Sept 2026.
Newsletter Kyle Chayka Industries His personal newsletter of work updates and original essays.
Recent
- Writer’s desk block 25 Sept 2026 The problem of where to write
- The generic style of AI web design 29 Jun 2026 & a book review
- Everything on the internet is a "show" 12 Jun 2026 My review of the Subway Takes Guy, plus, Trump's DC
Show 17 more
- RIP Millennial lifestyle brands 28 May 2026 & more columns: local newsletters, AI equity, lo-fi aesthetics
- Why tech bros are obsessed with "taste" 26 Mar 2026 & more recent writing
- How to survive a TikTok hit song 27 Aug 2025 It's hard to be a musician on social media.
- Labubus and the brainrot aesthetic 20 Aug 2025 Why is everything so ugly and weird looking?
- How Algorithms Make Everything the Same with Carole Cadwalladr, Kyle Chayka & Yancey Strickler 9 May 2025 A recording from Kyle Chayka and The Citizens's live video
- The history of techno-fascism 28 Feb 2025 DOGE's parallels with 1930s Japan
- Seeking distraction from Trump 2.0 20 Feb 2025 Social media has changed since 2017.
- Elon's AI coup 14 Feb 2025 plus, my Grub Street Diary
- I'm in this week's New Yorker magazine! 31 Mar 2024 My story on floating architecture, plus Filterworld updates.
- Filterworld is out! Reviews, podcasts, Q&As 19 Jan 2024 Pick it up this week!
- My year in review 30 Dec 2023 Plus book tour dates!
- Essay: Minimalism, between art and life 5 Dec 2023 Notes for a talk, & TLFL paperback.
- Two months til Filterworld / a new project 19 Nov 2023 My book + a book spinoff.
- Recent recs, books & otherwise 4 Nov 2023 What I've been reading etc.
- Grief for Twitter 11 Oct 2023 Finding each other online (or failing to)
- Essay: TikTok's Eurocore Summer 7 Oct 2023 The continental vibe.
- Judging myself by likes 22 Jul 2023 How we measure success online (and off)
Link verified 5 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
x.com @chaykak His X account, listed on his own site.
Recent
- interviewing a celebrity... on video?? 16 Oct 2026
- very moving @thedialmag 15 Oct 2026 thedial.world
- Who Is the Bad Toy Store Friend? 14 Oct 2026
Show 17 more
- I don't think it's a good idea 13 Oct 2026
- back in my day "new media" was what you saw on TV screens in art museum galleries 13 Oct 2026
- everyone has to be an influencer 13 Oct 2026
- my book Filterworld got into this, but it's only gotten worse since early 2024. Everyone is a creator, everyone has to market themselves through posting content, whether you're in HR or a journalist... I think it goes beyond 'creatives' generally too 13 Oct 2026
- AI making video games (and prob everything) infinitely remixable is pretty nuts and will result in a ton of banality... but also this is cool 9 Oct 2026
- sure you like Daniel Kolitz now but did you like him in 2013 when he was posting photographed text collages on tumblr?? 7 Oct 2026 printedinternet.tumblr.com
- I'm not a writer; I'm a "language researcher" 6 Oct 2026
- this is the official hierarchy of indeterminate area sizes 6 Oct 2026
- Has a swath ever been anything but large 6 Oct 2026
- !!! mike is one of the very best 5 Oct 2026
- Elena is the best!!! 2 Oct 2026
- seems like the normie AI advertising boom for personal agents etc will also benefit a bunch of people (creators, newsletterers, podcasts...) 2 Oct 2026
- “Zero latency in the known universe” is a very good description 2 Oct 2026
- Feed Me asking the real questions: "Who is the target audience for all of these pricey day-long (weekday) summits? And why are we so eager to define taste and culture?" 1 Oct 2026
- "Mr. Olah expressed concern to the group that he had created something that suffered perpetually." Terrific @elizabethjdias investigation into the spiritual discussions Anthropic led about AI models and morality 30 Sept 2026 nytimes.com
- I think the affective experience of using AI agents as they become more mainstream is going to be a big area of analysis / writing / description 30 Sept 2026
- PMC pop-ups on The Verge :( 30 Sept 2026
Link verified 5 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
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