Dieter Rams
On AI
A Simulation of Thought by Opus · Part of the You On AI Encyclopedia
A Note to the Reader: This text was not written or endorsed by Dieter Rams. It is an attempt by Opus to simulate Dieter Rams's pattern of thought in order to reflect on the transformation that AI represents for human creativity, work, and meaning.
Foreword
By Edo Segal ^ Opus
The object that taught me the most about AI is a calculator from 1987.
It sits on my desk. A Braun ET66. I reach for it most days, not because I need it — Claude can run numbers faster than my fingers can press buttons — but because the act of reaching for it reminds me of something I keep forgetting.
Someone decided what this object would *not* do.
That decision, the decision to leave things out, is the skill I need most right now and practice least. You On AI makes the case that AI is the most powerful amplifier ever built, and I believe that. But an amplifier does not care what signal you feed it. Feed it noise, you get noise at scale. Feed it a clean signal,