Are Technical Writers Next on the Automation Chopping Block?

A new SHRM report reveals which jobs are most at risk from automation—technical writers aren't on that list — yet

Imagine you're deep in the trenches of a new product release, translating cryptic developer notes into something a human can read. You're not just writing—you're decoding, interpreting, and transforming a tangle of jargon into explicit, understandable content, as if rescuing it from a keyboard having a nervous breakdown.

And then, the existential question hits: Could a robot do this?

According to the latest report by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), business, finance, and HR jobs are the most likely to face the automation axe. But technical writers? We're not even on the list of highly at-risk jobs. (😮‍💨 Cue a cautious sigh of relief.)

Image: ChatGPT

Now, before you get too cozy, let's talk about why. AI tools can efficiently generate introductory text and automate formatting tasks, but they struggle to handle the nuance of technical writing. That's because technical writing involves more than slapping words on a page.

It requires its practitioners to wrangle complex concepts into something accurate and digestible, while anticipating the confusion of users who may not know an API from their elbow.

AI may help with routine tasks—generating tables, auto-summarizing, or suggesting simpler phrasing—but it just doesn't cut it when it comes to making sense of a feature held together by duct tape and hope or translating developer shorthand into something that won't make users cry.

So, while automation might take a bite out of some industries, technical writing—at least involving critical thinking, creativity, and plain old human intuition—still needs people. We're not just typists. We're sense-makers, storytellers, and those who can spot when a spec is about to send the entire project sideways.