The Decision Layer Steps Forward
Four stories showing how platforms are moving judgment, coordination, and control upstream
We’re watching the decision layer move out of the background and into the daily stack. Four stories this week help paint that picture. Restaurants are letting algorithms pre-score diners before they ever walk in. AI modeling is drifting away from giant systems toward smaller tools that sit closer to the task. Agents are becoming the front door for commerce. Music rights are reorganizing around who controls the training data, not who performs the song.
Each move is different, but they all point to the same thing: more judgment happening upstream, inside systems the user never sees. What used to be interface decisions are becoming infrastructure decisions. The outcome lands on people after the system has already made its call.
OpenTable quietly starts pre-scoring diners
Source: The Verge, November 17, 2025
OpenTable’s new AI-assisted diner tags show restaurants exactly how the platform wants guests interpreted. Not just booking history, but drink habits, spend levels, dining speed, cancella…
