Is Technical writing still relevant in 2024?
LLMs like Chatgpt and Gemini can generate almost the same thing. Does that mean technical writing is useless, or should I use these LLMs to assist me in writing instead?
18 Replies
What do you mean by "technical writing" ?
if by
technical writing you mean writing code, then yes. its still very much relevantThey can write functions well but they aren't able to see big picture
Design wise they are suck
"Technical writing" usually refers to writing documentation, requirements, etc
Like when you explain how to write a crud application
I mean by writing how to build applications. Code included.
It justs can't write from scratch you need to guide it
Okay... That means its fine if I use it in my articles
since I am the one guiding it?
Yeah
Technical writing by AI is complete garbage
yeh it is garbage and often wrong
I use Grammarly to check my grammar and that is about it.
I would learn to write properly first and then use the AI to help you once you get better at it.
Okay
You still need editors to review the materials, prompt engineers to write the prompts. But if you refer to junior writers, then yes they are at risks and must climb up the ladder as soon as possible.
Alright
Microsoft Learn has been with AI for a while I believe. Also humans can write garbage too.
That doesn't change the fact that huge swaths of technical articles online are clearly written by AI and are very poor quality
In general, I think the goal is not to replace writers with AI at this stage, but how to empower a small group of writers/editors to work on more documentation than they were able to.
In the hands of the right people it can be a powerful tool, just like with coding.
Or straight up copies of something