AI didn’t create the gap between writing code and shipping useful products. It exposed it.

Pratham named the symptom. The deeper thing is what AI actually is: a depth amplifier.

The tool is neutral.

It runs on whatever depth you brought into the prompt. If you understood the problem before AI got cheap, the cheap tokens scale that understanding. If you didn’t, the cheap tokens scale the confusion.

That’s the actual shape. Great engineers weren’t suddenly better with AI. They were already operating on a different axis. AI just rendered the difference visible.

The productivity gap story is selection effect rendered as causation. Same Cursor. Same prompts. Different operator. Different output.

The filter was never the tool. It was always craftsmanship. AI just made it impossible to hide behind speed.