Clear Writing is Crucial to Using AI

This post is an addendum to a previous post. Though I'm still not afraid of AI, I've come to terms it will alter the landscape of what we do as technical writers. With the launch of Grok4, despite the controversy that surrounded it, this reaffirms AI isn't a passing fad. Those who think otherwise are living in a fantasy land. Unless there's some grand event that causes technology to cease, there's a mass rejection of AI, or even a bigger innovative leap, it isn't going away. But despite how powerful it is or how it will get, AI is still a tool and it's a tool that we need to master. So how do we do this as technical writers?  We focus on writing clearly. 

If or when we need to use AI to help us create documentation, we'll need to use AI prompts. In those prompts, it will be key to write clear and specific instructions. We can lay this out how we want the documentation to look. Of course, we will still need to writing the content itself or we should. Using AI isn't an excuse for us to shirk our duties as technical writers. If anyone does this, I'm absolutely against it. Documentation will always need human nuance to make it good. So we still need to do the hard work!

One of the nice things about using these AI prompts is that we can constantly refine our creation so it will eventually match what you're looking for. Or, it might even exceed our expectations. Of course, it can become a problem with when you're using a free version of the AI. Waiting another day after you past the message limit to clear isn't always ideal, especially if you need get documentation out for an impending release.

By focusing writing in clear, specific, and concise instructions in these prompts, it drives us back to the heart of the technical writing style. In a weird way, it takes us back to good ole technical writing.

Is it a possibility that AI will eventually make technical writing disappear? Don't know. Only God knows the future. I may have still concerns with AI but it's not going to take over, if we don't let it. What I do know is new opportunities will arise when old ones die. We no longer have milkmen but we do have refrigerator repair technicians. Just keep on writing. If you need to use AI, then make sure your voice and skillset still shines. I think I'm with this topic for now.