Why AI Skeptics Can’t Escape the System—Lessons from *The Devil Wears Prada*

The Devil Wears Prada (2006), directed by David Frankel, is often hailed as a near-perfect film. Around the 20-minute mark, Meryl Streep’s character, Miranda Priestly, delivers a pivotal speech to Anne Hathaway’s Andy Sachs that cuts to the heart of the movie’s central conflict.

In the scene, Miranda—a ruthless editor-in-chief of a top fashion magazine—reviews upcoming issue items while her stressed staff watches. Andy, a disheveled new assistant who landed the job despite her disdain for fashion, takes notes nearby. When an underling presents two nearly identical blue belts for Miranda’s approval, Andy scoffs, “Both of those belts look exactly the same to me. I’m still learning about this stuff.”

Andy’s comment is a critical mistake. Up to this point, she has hidden her belief that the fashion industry is frivolous and vain. Miranda, however, sees through the act. She seizes on Andy’s remark to dismantle her assistant’s misguided perception of the industry.

Miranda explains that the “lumpy blue sweater” Andy wears isn’t just blue—it’s cerulean, a color that originated in designer collections by Oscar de la Renta and Yves Saint Laurent before trickling down to mass-market retailers. What Andy dismisses as “stuff” is part of a vast system she’s already part of, even if passively. That system sustains countless jobs and generates billions in revenue.

“It’s sort of comical how you think that you’ve made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry,” Miranda tells a now-silenced Andy, “when, in fact, you’re wearing a sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room… from a pile of ‘stuff.’”

Andy’s stance throughout the film is that she’s merely observing the fashion world from the outside, reluctantly and with a smile. Miranda, by contrast, sees the industry as the only reality that matters. But her broader point is universal: we all participate in systems, whether we acknowledge it or not.

This brings us to AI. A cerulean belt isn’t a large language model, and Miranda isn’t Sam Altman. Yet the scene’s core message applies to today’s AI skeptics. A vocal minority insists they can opt out of AI’s influence entirely, positioning themselves as morally superior for doing so. They argue that AI is a passing trend or a tool of corporate overreach, and that rejecting it is a stance of principle.

But just as Andy’s sweater reveals her hidden participation in fashion, our daily lives are already shaped by AI—whether through smartphone algorithms, workplace software, or even the tools used to create the content we consume. To claim exemption from AI’s reach is as illusory as Andy believing she’s above the fashion industry.

Miranda’s speech isn’t just a fashion lesson; it’s a lesson in systems thinking. Participation isn’t a choice—it’s an inevitability. The question isn’t whether we’re part of the system, but how we engage with it.