Klariti Signal: The Intersection of AI and Technical Documentation

Leigh-Anne: Let’s be honest: AI is here, it’s powerful, and it’s not going anywhere.

But at Firecrab, we’ve learned that efficiency without accuracy is just speed in the wrong direction.

Yes, generative AI has opened doors for content creators: faster drafts, bulk generation, and automation. But when it comes to technical content, especially in highly nuanced or regulated environments, those advantages come with real risks: hallucinated facts, inconsistent terminology, and content that looks right on the surface but doesn’t hold up under scrutiny.

That’s where the human touch still matters—deeply.

At Firecrab, we treat GenAI the way we’d treat any other tool in the tech writer’s toolbox. It’s not the writer. It’s not the voice. It’s not the source of truth. It’s a resource—and it still needs a human to shape, refine, validate, and deliver.

Here’s how we help clients strike that balance:

• We lead with clarity. Our job isn’t to impress with jargon—it’s to communicate clearly. If a tool (AI or otherwise) muddies the message, we don’t use it.
• We use AI for grunt work, not judgment calls. It can help with outlining, summarizing, or sorting ideas. But structure, tone, fact-checking, and nuance? That still comes from an experienced writer who knows the audience and the industry.
• We show our work. With some of our more cautious clients, especially in fields where compliance matters, we’ve built frameworks that show the process—how we get from brief to final output, what tools we used, and where the human hand stepped in. That transparency builds trust.
• We focus on context. AI can mimic tone, but it can’t understand a business goal, a regulatory constraint, or the emotional undertone of a product launch. Writers can. That’s what we bring to the table every time.

In truth, what GenAI has done is raise the bar. It’s flooded the market with fast, forgettable content. But for the companies that want to build trust, grow sustainably, and connect with their users, thoughtful, accurate writing is more valuable than ever.

So yes, AI has changed the game.

But it hasn’t replaced the players.

We’re still here. Still writing. Still thinking. Still asking the hard questions.

And that’s how we help our clients build content that not only performs—but lasts

Leigh–Anne: The biggest difference between “cheap and quick” and professional content is Trust and usability.

Quick content might tick the SEO boxes, but if it’s riddled with jargon, lacks structure, or buries the lead, users tune out—or worse, they leave. In technical writing, especially for developer docs and product content, clarity isn’t a nice-to-have, it’s the whole point.

Human-crafted content is structured, readable, and designed with the end user in mind. That means fewer support tickets, better onboarding, and users who actually understand how to use your product. That’s what drives adoption, reduces churn, and builds long-term loyalty. You don’t get that with shortcuts.

Leigh-Anne: At Firecrab, we see documentation as part of the product, not an afterthought. So we embed writers early in the development cycle, right alongside the engineers, designers, and PMs. This ensures we’re not just documenting features, but helping shape how they’re communicated and experienced.

One example: we recently worked with a SaaS company building a new API product. Instead of waiting for the handover, we joined sprint planning from day one. That allowed us to flag confusing terminology early, align the docs with user flows, and create modular, developer-first content that scaled as the product evolved.

The result? The docs weren’t just technically accurate, they actually helped users succeed faster, and the dev team saw a 30% drop in support queries post-launch. That’s the value of having writers in the room from the start.

Leigh-Anne: This is something I’ve been living through in real-time.

Recently, one of my human-written articles was flagged by an AI detection tool. The irony is that I had spent hours refining it, removing redundancies, correcting factual errors, and delivering something valuable for readers. But because the structure was clear and the language polished, it was marked as “too good” — and therefore, “probably AI-generated.”

This is the problem: AI detectors aren’t really measuring authorship — they’re measuring imperfection. If your content is clean, structured, and human-readable, it can be penalized simply for being well-written. And the more you try to “dumb it down” to pass the detector, the more you strip away clarity, purpose, and the very value it’s supposed to offer.

Here’s how I advise clients today:

1. Prioritize humans over machines. Readers come first. Structure, logic, and clarity matter far more than satisfying a flawed algorithm.
2. Document the process. I now show side-by-side comparisons of AI drafts vs. human rewrites — it’s eye-opening. Clients can see the thought process, the refinement, and the added value.
3. Own your voice. When content is written by professionals, it will sound consistent. That’s not a red flag — it’s a sign of good writing.
4. Push back with confidence. If a detection tool flags something unfairly, we explain why — clearly and calmly. We’re not hiding anything.

The truth is: content that is useful to people will always win in the long term. It’s our job to keep writing for humans — not machines.

Leigh-Anne: Writers need to get comfortable with two things: modularity and machine collaboration.

Modular documentation is a necessity. Products move fast, and your docs need to move with them. That means writing in clean, reusable chunks that can be updated without overhauling everything. It’s a mindset shift.

And with AI, the key isn’t resisting it, it’s learning how to use it without letting it take over. Writers who can prompt well, edit sharply, and know when to trust their own brain over the machine will stand out. The human touch still wins, but it has to work smarter now. In the age of AI and instant gratification, your human voice is what will set you apart.