Even a media company that automates everything it can still hires more humans, because AI trained on past expertise can't handle the unique problems that keep arising.

Every is a 30-person tech publication that also builds software. Its AI strategy is aggressive: almost all code is AI-written, and it has even trained a 'Kate copy-editing agent' by harvesting 30,000 edits from its editor in chief, Kate Lee. Yet the company doubled in size over the past year, from 15 to 30 people.

Founder Dan Shipper says AI amplifies expert skill but does not replace the expert. He calls this 'compounding': turn Kate's taste into a tool, and she spends her time on higher-level work.

1. The most durable asset: being the referee

Every's 'vibe checks' review new models and often pan them. Shipper says labs do not trust each other to be objective, so a media company holding the role of arbiter has lasting value: 'No one trusts a model company to tell you where they objectively sit.'

2. Why hire more people in the age of AI?

AI is 'trained on the residue of human expertise' — it can solve solved problems, but every new problem is a little bit different. The result is a glut of slop that needs experts to tune. At the same time, AI lets one person run a whole product, which creates demand for more experts to build the systems that steer ordinary people's AI use in the right direction.

3. The dirty secret of writing

Shipper believes almost every writer is using AI these days, they just don't say so. His advice: treat AI like putty, play with it, take risks, and let it change what writing means to you. Accepting an AI suggestion is like accepting an editor's suggestion — as long as the final text is something you stand behind, it's yours.

In short: AI does not reduce human work, it pushes it up a level.