Predictive writing

The world is warming up to automation in a steady but sure way. Tabloids are filled with lay-offs figures as a result of automation. Even though there are many other industries that still rely on manual/human intervention, automation is a real threat/boon depending on how it is affecting us.

In this context, as a technical documentation expert, I was awestruck and frightened by the predictive writing assistance of Gmail and MS word. Telling you what to write next is just the first step though which the work of a human writer is challenged. Soon, there would be AI that would, depending on the context help organizations develop their product/service documentation faster with cost effectiveness. This was my fear, and echoed by my fellow colleagues working as technical writers.

However, unlike any other field that can be automated with logic, technical documentation or in fact any documentation doesn't really have a universal code or standard of representation. What I meant is even though all of the writers follow preset grammatical rules of documentation the representation of the content differs from one another, and this is the magic of written documentation. It is like orchestral music, different ways of playing an instrument yet following the rules to produce a symphony. This aspect of writing has given me the courage to think that writing can never be replaced by robots. Because, at the end of the day a human reads what another human has written.