Technical writers' role in the GenAI era

User queries are no longer directed at search engines and help desks but at GenAI. So, are your users finding what they are looking for?

Text by Selvaraaju Murugesan

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Image: © MicroStockHub/istockphoto.com

Truth forms the foundation of trust. With the advent of GenAI, there has been no scarcity of synthetically generated content. Technical writers have been cautiously using GenAI tools to aid content creation tasks such as creating article outlines, enriching content, and so on. However, GenAI-based assistive search is taking over the knowledge base search functionality as customers seek to interact through a ChatGPT-like interface. Traditional lexical search functionality does not offer context, leaving customers struggling to find the right information. Where lexical search can no longer meet evolving customer needs, technological advancements have paved the way to semantic search powered by GenAI capabilities. However, GenAI's capabilities are prone to hallucinating and generating fictitious information. So, how can we keep our customers' trust?

If responses generated by GenAI-based ...