Source: It's Nice That
As AI tools democratize portfolio-building, elite gatekeepers—those with existing networks and institutional credibility—have reasserted control by devaluing the work samples that once proved raw talent. The technology meant to level playing fields instead pushed hiring upstream to reputation and relationships, the exact mechanisms that excluded outsiders before portfolios became viable proof points. This follows a historical pattern in which technological disruption initially flattens hierarchies before concentrating power among those who can exploit the chaos.