| What does the year 2026 hold for technical communication? Will AI replace tech writers? Or will it help them bring content to the next level? We have asked the experts in our community to share their predictions. Here is what Scott Abel had to say: |
In 2026, technical writers will evolve into content choreographers – professionals responsible for designing, orchestrating, and governing the structured content ecosystems that agentive systems rely on. As organizations adopt agentive technologies – systems capable of perceiving, deciding, and acting without constant human supervision – writers will be the ones who identify when and where these solutions make sense, and who helps to build, deploy, and maintain the “health” of these agents.
This shift will elevate the role of technical communicators. When writers take responsibility for the quality and operability of the content that fuels autonomous and semi-autonomous systems, they become central to product success. The impact is clear: stronger alignment with business goals, increased influence in strategic decisions, and an expanded set of career paths in content engineering, orchestration, AI operations, and knowledge architecture.
Companies that prepare now – by investing in structured content, terminology governance, and content operations – will be best positioned to leverage agentive AI effectively.
Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler