You’re Wearing the Sweater: What ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ Gets Right About AI
Image Credit: 20th Century Fox / The Devil Wears Prada (2006), modified by author.
The Devil Wears Prada. I don’t need to know about your personal taste in movies or your interest in fashion to know that you and I have the same exact image enter our brains when we hear that title: Miranda Priestly giving that withering death stare at whatever poor soul has stumbled into her orbit that day.
“Devil” has great acting, great writing, great lines. As a 40-something year old man, I’m very comfortable recognizing that. And while the insider fashion industry stuff wasn’t really for me, I find myself thinking about one scene in particular from time to time.
It’s called the Cerulean Sweater scene. Andy (played by Anne Hathaway) is taking notes in the room as the team prepares for the upcoming ‘run through’ (please do not ask me what that means). She gives a little snort and smirk as the team debates which belt to select. Miranda (played by Meryl Streep) turns to Andy, delivers the stare, and then proceeds to eviscerate her helpless junior personal assistant. It’s a perfect monologue. Ruthless. Precise. Undeniable.
Needless to say, she makes her point. It’s a great scene. But I’m surprised how often two particular lines from that scene come into my mind at random times. The first is:
“Oh, ok I see. You think this has nothing to do with you.”
I think of this line because I foolishly a.) continue to be shocked when far away things (trends, tech, culture) show up in my life and b.) assume I can actually do something about it. I should stop being surprised, and I definitely can’t do anything about the tectonic forces of culture, industry, and power.
And I’m sorry, but AI is the next version of this, and realistically it’s already happened. To me, it’s just not possible to say AI won’t be a part of your life if you spend any amount of time engaging with a keyboard and a screen. You see it everywhere. The LinkedIn post written by AI, and the comments to the post written the same way. Doorbell cameras and “powered by AI” tags that show up out of nowhere in products that you thought already worked perfectly fine. Social media algorithms and advertising spam. If you’re in most jobs, your bosses are telling you to start using whatever enterprise AI solution they signed a massive contract for. They aren’t telling you how exactly to use it (that’s a different topic), but they will make sure they can show utilization rates climbing week by week.
It’s not coming. It’s already here. And it won’t go away.
This isn’t a random outcome. Despite what you think, this isn’t just another fad. And I feel strongly about that not because of the first quote I shared, but because of this second one:
“And it’s sort of comical how you think that you’ve made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you’re wearing a sweater that was selected for you.”
I used to see this in Corporate America a lot. I was responsible for designing and implementing a lot of organizational change. New structures, processes, tools…change management was a pillar of the job, and a constant in my profession. I’d laugh when people thought the multi-million dollar investment the CEO approved wasn’t going to find its way into their day-to-day life. I’d always tell them that if the big boss signed the big check, it was coming one way or another. “I’m just at a local branch, doing my job, minding my business. What’s that stuff got to do with me?” Well, stuff rolls downhill, as they say. If it’s important to those at the top, it’s important to you (like it or not).
So unfortunately the folks at the top of the AI Industry food chain (e.g., CEOs and investors that have spent over a TRILLION dollars on investments in the past decade) are doing everything they can to make sure this comes into your life in as many ways as possible. I talked about the AI Land Grab in another post, and I’d double down on that sentiment now based on nothing but the sheer number of AI ads during the Super Bowl.
Because we’re not talking about random cultural trends. We’re talking about deliberate, meaningful decisions made by powerful, invested people. They can’t afford for it to fail. Hell, they can’t even afford for it to stay on its current trajectory. Like it or not, to make their investments worthwhile, it needs to be everywhere. And they’ll do everything they can to make sure it is. This may be the quietest it will be about AI for a long time.
AI is the Cerulean sweater. And when I apply that logic to it, things make a lot of sense:
“And it’s sort of comical how you think that you’ve made a choice that exempts you from the AI industry when, in fact, you’re using the AI tool that was selected for you.”
I don’t like it, to be honest. It’s A LOT (as my daughter would say…about me). No one asked my opinion on this. I wasn’t the one who said we should jam AI into a tool that worked perfectly fine for me. And frankly, I totally get those that are trying to opt out. I don’t blame them. But I’m choosing not to fight it, at least not in that way.
Because I don’t see this as a binary choice. It’s not just “I’M ALL IN ON AI, WOOO!” or “I WANT NOTHING TO DO WITH AI, EVER!” Both of those sentiments seem reactionary and misinformed, at least to me. No one knows where AI will go. We don’t know how things will turn out. But, I feel confident saying that AI is here to stay. And, because of the investments that have been made by extremely powerful parties, it’s probably going to be more than I’d like. This has nothing to do with short term predictions about bubbles and AGI timelines. It’s the long term view. The genie is out of the proverbial bottle.
No, instead I accept that I am wearing the (metaphorical) Cerulean Sweater because a system I don’t fully comprehend has put it in my path. I have some choice, don’t get me wrong. Cerulean isn’t really my color. But as a consumer, I don’t have limitless options and the more I rely on technology for my work and my life, it will be harder and harder to find those non-AI pockets.
So what am I doing about it? Well, I’m making a choice about an important question:
Do I work for AI, or does AI work for me?
I’m not going to fight against AI and refuse to learn it. I’m going to be an active participant instead of a passive one. I’m going to put it to work the way I want instead of simply following along.
And I think that approach will matter more than most people realize.
