A few years ago, prompting skill was enough to stand out. Now it is table stakes. The new differentiator is evaluation.
The Proliferation Problem
There are many strong models now, each with strengths and limits. Abundance creates a new challenge: choosing well for the task at hand.
What Choosing Well Means
It is not a static ranking list. It is judgment: telling apart outputs that sound good from outputs that are actually strong for your context.
The Real Skill Gap
Most AI literacy content teaches prompting. Very little teaches evaluation. But evaluation is where long-term quality gains come from.
How to Build the Skill
Run the same prompt across multiple models. Compare where they agree, where they diverge, and which response truly clears the bar.
Over time, that process compounds into a durable decision advantage.