---
title: "Survey results: Technical writers on AI"
date: 2023-04-10
description: "General survey of information  Survey date: April 3 to April 9 Number of participants: 291 Means of promotion: my blog, newsletter, Linkedin, and Twitter Survey participant locations: US: 42%,..."
canonical_url: https://idratherbewriting.com/blog/survey-analysis-tech-writers-on-ai/
---
# Survey results: Technical writers on AI
The survey questions and responses in raw form are [here on QuestionPro](https://idbwrtng.com/ai-survey-tech-comm-results).

## 1. Given AI tools' ability to simplify complex content, how worried are you about the future of your job as a technical writer?

![Question 1](https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/idbwmedia.com/images/aitechcommsurvey1.png)

With *45% mildly concerned, 22% concerned, and 9% very concerned,* it’s safe to say this is a huge issue in the industry. Not sure if there’s ever been another technology that has made so many in the tech comm industry so concerned. This widespread concern justifies the continued focus on this topic.

## 2. If the technical writer role vanishes in a few years, which profession would you most likely transition to (assuming you're a tech writer now)? 

![Question 2](https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/idbwmedia.com/images/aitechcommsurvey2.png)

**Top responses:**

 - *Content strategist: 16%*

 - *Information architect: 16%*

 - *User experience designer: 10%*

 - *Instructional designer: 8%*

 - *Business analyst: 7%*

 - *AI-generated content ghostwriter: 7%*

As a hat tip to the scenario’s existential absurdity, some respondents indicated their next profession might be cat sitter, farmer, and homesteader (options that could be combined into one role, actually).

More seriously, though, the alternative career options as a content strategist and information architect look interesting to me. Many technical writers do some degree of content strategy and IA already. Anytime you plan content for a large project and strive to match marcom content, for example, you’re doing content strategy. When you plan the information flow in your developer portal, adding metadata to topics to surface topics in search, you’re doing IA.

Personally, I find both content strategy and information architecture compelling. These focuses seem to align with my more recent interest in systems thinking.

One question is whether these other disciplines are equally at risk. Given that writing isn’t the primary artifact of these disciplines, perhaps not. But certainly findability is changing from a search-dominant perspective to an AI-based conversational one, resetting the expectations and learnings of IA disciplines. And content strategy is also morphing, as [Zoomin notes](https://storage.pardot.com/1018802/1680517858gTb683bk/Zoomin_GPT_Key_Predictions_White_paper__1_.pdf), to more of a dynamically assembled AI content mashup of all existing sources into a coherent article. It would be interesting to probe just how much AI might also transform these alternative disciplines tech writers are considering.

## 3. Given that writing makes up only a fraction of a technical writer's tasks, how likely is it that AI tools will have a transformative impact on tech comm?

![Question 3](https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/idbwmedia.com/images/aitechcommsurvey3.png)

With *42% likely and 23% very likely,* yes most people feel AI will be transformative. These responses are an interesting perspective because they suggest the greatest transformation won’t just be in AI’s ability to write docs. AI has the potential to influence how technical writers go about the non-writing aspects of their role.