Craft used to prove competence for designers, but AI has made execution nearly free, stripping away that cover and leaving only whether one has something genuine to say. Cheap polish now signals nothing, and the real risk is "slop": endless output produced to avoid confronting that deeper question, rather than pursuing genuine conviction. True value lies in "conviction," the irreducible human act of caring and choosing, which AI cannot replicate, though private, hyper-personalized creations risk losing the shared meaning that once resonated with others.