Nobody wants to read your AI-generated docs

If you didn't bother to write it, your colleagues won't bother to read it.

In a popular blog post, engineer Colin Breck makes a simple plea: stop sending people text generated by machines. A cited survey by Cynthia Dunlop shows 78% of developers quit reading a post if it feels AI-assisted, while 98% prefer an author's raw writing. Breck notes that machine-made PR summaries and design docs dump endless detail without explaining why the work actually matters.

Why it matters: Prompting an AI feels helpful because you already hold the context in your head. But readers lack that background, leaving them with exhausting walls of text that lack perspective and human intent.

Use AI to cross-check facts against source code or system logs, not to draft the prose. As C++ creator Bjarne Stroustrup once noted, good writing lets the reader hear the author's distinct voice in their head.

Write with your own voice—flaws, peculiarities, and all.