What Is AI Smell?

Jon Noronha says AI smell is the tell that work was made with AI. It shows up most in writing, when an email uses a word the person would not use and does not sound like them. He also sees it in images. Walking around San Francisco, he can spot cafe and restaurant posters that look like Nano Banana or a GPT image, and more people are starting to notice as that look spreads.

Gamma hit the same wall. When few people used it, a deck stood out. Once everybody used it, everything looked like Gamma, and people did not want to be recognized as using AI. The launch they just shipped was meant to widen the range, so there can be a thousand looks instead of one, and a person can move between them. That cycling system is itself a harness. He compares it to fashion, where a shirt can be recognized as H&M and the cut of jeans swings from wide to skinny. Gamma has to ride that cycle and give people the tools to change with it.