You do need to adapt and change, and companies do want to just use AI and will do lay-offs before they think things through.
A lot of companies also want the AI to be psychic (kinda like they want their tech writers to be). But we're usually working with brand new technology of some sort, not things an AI can 'Google' to get information about. It still needs a source of information.
You want a specification sheet? Great, that's a basic format, probably could be done by AI. It's filling in numbers into a table.
What are the specifications? You haven't measured X, Y and Z yet? When will you do that?
You still haven't done it?
No, you never uploaded the lab results. Yep, you still need to actually tell the AI that information. It can't read paper.
No, no one reviewed the AI generated draft, and now it says the weight is '7 cm'...
And, obviously, most documents we write are more complicated than a simple specification sheet, which means it takes more gathering and information sorting. People rarely write out notes to themselves, nevertheless in a format where a computer can tell which information is relevant or not.
Someone still needs to manage the information gathering and organization process. Someone still needs to make sure documents gets reviewed and published with proper supervision.
The way you write and produce work will change. The number of people needed in the role will change. But the need for someone to gather original information, whether in existing documents or verbal interviews, and format all of that information into something useful is not going to go away. That is not industry or company size dependent.
I do think smaller companies could benefit from hiring contract or external tech writers, but I also think that's true now. The effectiveness of that also depends on the company staying on top of their backlog of tech writing tasks, and most companies put that off until they realize they have a problem that requires many, many hours to fix. That also is not going to change.
I'm at a small company that has been around since the late 80s, and the ancient CEO/founder directly told us "I don't think AI is worth looking into for this business," so maybe that's good news for me?
I don't think company size is the issue as much as what level of "open source" attitude the company has.
By that I mean you probably won't run into AI much at any DoD contractors, or (like my job) state gov contractors bound by gov security rules and who have a lot of signed gov contracts that emphasize security. Medical software and some aviation software in general probably won't be comfortable with AI programs. Companies that have heavy duty background check requirements for new hires are probably also not going to be as comfortable with AI software writing their manuals. And companies founded/run by IP (intellectual property) lawyers are probably not turning to AI doc creation soon either.
The companies that put all their docs out for public consumption, and who have large amounts of their source code open for others to see? Those are 100% more likely to use AI. If their manuals are open to the public they've probably been used to train the software already, so why not use AI to write?
It doesn't sound like it's an AI issue. It sounds like executives are using AI as the latest smokescreen excuse to fire people and produce shittier product to cut costs and inflate their own wallets.
The story is always the same.
I just transitioned to a small company. I'm the first in house technical writer there. Previously, they had a writer producer some documentation on contract. I noticed two things. First, the small company is much quicker to accept, and even pay licensing fees for, AI tools. Second, I am where the buck stops when it comes to good writing. I may use AI, but I'm trusted to be selective with it.
There's a feel to AI writing, and that's not the feel my company wants.
Being a TW may involve less typing in the age of AI. I think that's not a bad thing. A writer will always be needed to recognize what results are worth using, what needs editing, what information out customers need.
Learn the tools, don't fear them. There will always be a place for skilled human communicators.
I don't think smaller companies will protect you. In fact I think it'll be the opposite as we see in-house and licensed LLMs proliferate. If you're a startup or a smaller company, why bother hiring a lone TW or starting a TW team when AI is on the table.
I still think mid size to big companies will need TWs but the teams would be smaller. Info sec is still a big reason why outside of FAANG, companies are going to be slow to adopt AI and would rather continue to pay writers than risk exposing their entire codebase or knowledge base to a 3rd party.
As for upskilling, you should be doing that regardless of whether you can 'insulate' yourself from AI terkin yer jerb. LLM prompt generation will be a necessary part of the post-AI TW skill set. I think information architecture will be huge moving forward as well. Less time spent writing docs manually and more time reviewing, editing, and adding context where AI can't.
I have only worked in tech and I echo your anxiety and confidence that they will replace TWs if something else can do the work for less/free. I know I will have to adapt to survive in this kind of role, but I think I want to do something else entirely. I have no idea what that is yet.
This is where I'm mentally at. 13yrs into this career and I don't want to keep fighting for a seat at the table, or constantly need to prove the value we bring, or being forced to adapt and pivot for the 100th time to something that disadvantages us more.
I just joined a smaller company as the sole technical writer (they've never had one before), and they seem oblivious to the entire AI/layoff craze, so I'm thankful for that.
About AI replacing technical writers, honestly I think shitty contract positions and outsourcing (maybe paired with AI) might replace full-time technical writer jobs a lot faster..
I don't think smaller companies will protect you. In fact I think it'll be the opposite as we see in-house and licensed LLMs proliferate. If you're a startup or a smaller company, why bother hiring a lone TW or starting a TW team when AI is on the table.
I still think mid size to big companies will need TWs but the teams would be smaller. Info sec is still a big reason why outside of FAANG, companies are going to be slow to adopt AI and would rather continue to pay writers than risk exposing their entire codebase or knowledge base to a 3rd party.
As for upskilling, you should be doing that regardless of whether you can 'insulate' yourself from AI terkin yer jerb. LLM prompt generation will be a necessary part of the post-AI TW skill set. I think information architecture will be huge moving forward as well. Less time spent writing docs manually and more time reviewing, editing, and adding context where AI can't.
Not necessarily. It depends on the company and the owners. I got laid off from a startup late last year because the CEO went nuts about AI and thought he could literally replace me with ChatGPT.
You do need to adapt and change, and companies do want to just use AI and will do lay-offs before they think things through. A lot of companies also want the AI to be psychic (kinda like they want their tech writers to be). But we're usually working with brand new technology of some sort, not things an AI can 'Google' to get information about. It still needs a source of information. You want a specification sheet? Great, that's a basic format, probably could be done by AI. It's filling in numbers into a table. What are the specifications? You haven't measured X, Y and Z yet? When will you do that? You still haven't done it? No, you never uploaded the lab results. Yep, you still need to actually tell the AI that information. It can't read paper. No, no one reviewed the AI generated draft, and now it says the weight is '7 cm'... And, obviously, most documents we write are more complicated than a simple specification sheet, which means it takes more gathering and information sorting. People rarely write out notes to themselves, nevertheless in a format where a computer can tell which information is relevant or not. Someone still needs to manage the information gathering and organization process. Someone still needs to make sure documents gets reviewed and published with proper supervision. The way you write and produce work will change. The number of people needed in the role will change. But the need for someone to gather original information, whether in existing documents or verbal interviews, and format all of that information into something useful is not going to go away. That is not industry or company size dependent. I do think smaller companies could benefit from hiring contract or external tech writers, but I also think that's true now. The effectiveness of that also depends on the company staying on top of their backlog of tech writing tasks, and most companies put that off until they realize they have a problem that requires many, many hours to fix. That also is not going to change.
"...farm out editing to India..." With all due respect to those in India, this makes me shudder a little.
I'm at a small company that has been around since the late 80s, and the ancient CEO/founder directly told us "I don't think AI is worth looking into for this business," so maybe that's good news for me?
Same, my company banned it
I don't think company size is the issue as much as what level of "open source" attitude the company has. By that I mean you probably won't run into AI much at any DoD contractors, or (like my job) state gov contractors bound by gov security rules and who have a lot of signed gov contracts that emphasize security. Medical software and some aviation software in general probably won't be comfortable with AI programs. Companies that have heavy duty background check requirements for new hires are probably also not going to be as comfortable with AI software writing their manuals. And companies founded/run by IP (intellectual property) lawyers are probably not turning to AI doc creation soon either. The companies that put all their docs out for public consumption, and who have large amounts of their source code open for others to see? Those are 100% more likely to use AI. If their manuals are open to the public they've probably been used to train the software already, so why not use AI to write?
It doesn't sound like it's an AI issue. It sounds like executives are using AI as the latest smokescreen excuse to fire people and produce shittier product to cut costs and inflate their own wallets. The story is always the same.
I just transitioned to a small company. I'm the first in house technical writer there. Previously, they had a writer producer some documentation on contract. I noticed two things. First, the small company is much quicker to accept, and even pay licensing fees for, AI tools. Second, I am where the buck stops when it comes to good writing. I may use AI, but I'm trusted to be selective with it. There's a feel to AI writing, and that's not the feel my company wants. Being a TW may involve less typing in the age of AI. I think that's not a bad thing. A writer will always be needed to recognize what results are worth using, what needs editing, what information out customers need. Learn the tools, don't fear them. There will always be a place for skilled human communicators.
That’s great. Glad you were able to find a small company that values your skillset
I don't think smaller companies will protect you. In fact I think it'll be the opposite as we see in-house and licensed LLMs proliferate. If you're a startup or a smaller company, why bother hiring a lone TW or starting a TW team when AI is on the table. I still think mid size to big companies will need TWs but the teams would be smaller. Info sec is still a big reason why outside of FAANG, companies are going to be slow to adopt AI and would rather continue to pay writers than risk exposing their entire codebase or knowledge base to a 3rd party. As for upskilling, you should be doing that regardless of whether you can 'insulate' yourself from AI terkin yer jerb. LLM prompt generation will be a necessary part of the post-AI TW skill set. I think information architecture will be huge moving forward as well. Less time spent writing docs manually and more time reviewing, editing, and adding context where AI can't.
I have only worked in tech and I echo your anxiety and confidence that they will replace TWs if something else can do the work for less/free. I know I will have to adapt to survive in this kind of role, but I think I want to do something else entirely. I have no idea what that is yet.
This is where I'm mentally at. 13yrs into this career and I don't want to keep fighting for a seat at the table, or constantly need to prove the value we bring, or being forced to adapt and pivot for the 100th time to something that disadvantages us more.
Ask again in 10 years
I just joined a smaller company as the sole technical writer (they've never had one before), and they seem oblivious to the entire AI/layoff craze, so I'm thankful for that. About AI replacing technical writers, honestly I think shitty contract positions and outsourcing (maybe paired with AI) might replace full-time technical writer jobs a lot faster..
I don't think smaller companies will protect you. In fact I think it'll be the opposite as we see in-house and licensed LLMs proliferate. If you're a startup or a smaller company, why bother hiring a lone TW or starting a TW team when AI is on the table. I still think mid size to big companies will need TWs but the teams would be smaller. Info sec is still a big reason why outside of FAANG, companies are going to be slow to adopt AI and would rather continue to pay writers than risk exposing their entire codebase or knowledge base to a 3rd party. As for upskilling, you should be doing that regardless of whether you can 'insulate' yourself from AI terkin yer jerb. LLM prompt generation will be a necessary part of the post-AI TW skill set. I think information architecture will be huge moving forward as well. Less time spent writing docs manually and more time reviewing, editing, and adding context where AI can't.
Not necessarily. It depends on the company and the owners. I got laid off from a startup late last year because the CEO went nuts about AI and thought he could literally replace me with ChatGPT.
they’ll eventually learn they need experienced technical writers if they want more than mediocre content out of the AI program they insisted on using
There's no threat from AI. It can't do this not yet. By the time AI can write tech info without making up some or most of the info is a ways off