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From Can (A)I to Should (A)I? - The Pros (and Cons) of Working With Generative AI in Documentation

  • Presentation
  • AI and New Technologies in TC
  • 23. April
  • 02:00 PM (CEST) - 02:40 PM (CEST)
  • finished
  • Andrew Mills

    Andrew Mills

    • Technically An Author Productions Limited

Contents

In this follow-up to my 2024 talk in Sofia, I share what really happens when you embed generative AI into day-to-day documentation work. Over the last two years I’ve moved from used custom GPTs, to adopting Agentic Coding AI models, voice cloning, and online, offline, and Hybrid AI-assisted workflows in a custom-coded Python-based documentation CMS. Trust me when I say that I’ve seen the significant benefits (and hit the numerous brick walls).

We’ll look at where AI genuinely saves time (often lots), can improve consistency, and unlock multiple output formats at once - as well as also looking at where it introduces risk, generating more work than it saves, and other issues with keeping in mind. The session focuses on practical patterns, decision checklists, and concrete examples you can adapt, so you leave not just asking “Can I use AI for this?” but confidently answering the *far* more important question of: “Should I?”

Takeaways

Learn a practical framework, real examples, and pitfalls to decide when AI should (and shouldn’t) be used in your documentation workflow.

Prior knowledge

No prior hands-on AI experience required.

Helpful but optional: basic familiarity with software documentation concepts (topics, versions, workflows) and common authoring tools.

Speaker

Andrew Mills

Andrew Mills

  • Technically An Author Productions Limited
Biography

I've been a Technical Author/Documentation Professional for the last 30-years and I specialise in creating tutorials and user guides for both software and hardware products across a wide-range of digital and printed formats including: video, audio, text, DVD/Blu-Ray, paperback/hardback books, and Augmented Reality (AR).

I now run my own AI-assissted user guide documentation production and book publishing company, allowing me to accelerate my book production workflow by reducing the time taken to generate conent from weeks to days, from days to hours, or from hours to minutes - thanks to the help of finely tuned AI toolchains.

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