Demand for front-end technical writing has dropped for some time and is occurring across multiple platforms and content creators. The decline is attributed largely to AI, described as the biggest headwind, though other factors may also contribute. AI systems are characterized as not learning new things independently, relying on the prompts provided by humans. Technical writing remains supported by real people who want to learn, even when their learning becomes prompts that help AI generate code. The intended audience for technical content may need to shift because documentation value can be reduced by existing resources and by developer questions being answered directly inside IDE-embedded chat tools.
"The fact is, demand for front-end technical writing has significantly dropped, and has been for some time. Just look at our stats for yourself: I'm not embarrassed to share this because it's happening across the board. I mean, it's the same thing over at Stack Overflow as we've already discussed in depth. I work with other content creators and publications and it's also the same story."
"And yes, I'm pointing squarely at AI. It's a little unfair to say there aren't other factors out there impacting our work and this site specifically, but let's call a spade a spade and identify the biggest headwind. This isn't totally about AI. It's about technical writing in the age of AI. I have some thoughts on this and I hope it's helpful to you humans reading."
"The bots certainly aren't learning new things on their own, right? They're only as motivated as the prompt they're given, and it's human desire and effort that moves things forward. I want to acknowledge right away that I am not suggesting that AI is the new primary audience for technical writing. It's real people like you with the motivation to learn that keeps this practice alive, even if your learnings become the prompts that allow AI to generate code for you."
"Who (or what) are you writing for? It may be that your place in creating technical content needs a shift. For example, I'd wager that creating technical documentation is less valuable than it once was. Not only do we have a wealth of that in the specs and MDN, but those sorts of developer questions are now being answered directly in a chat that's embedded right in the IDE."
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