Winter 2024

RUDi, The AI Assistant

Dawn Stevens, Comtech Services

As you may know if you’d read this newsletter for the last seven years, I have taken to rewriting classic Christmas stories to tell a tale highlighting the concerns and achievements of technical communicators everywhere. An explanation of my Christmas rewrite may be in order this year. I chose to adopt the story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, which most, if not all of you, are likely familiar with through the 1949 Gene Autry song or the 1964 stop-motion cartoon shown each holiday season.

What you may not know is that these classics are based on a 1939 book written by Robert L May and published by Montgomery Ward as a promotional story. Montgomery Ward distributed about two and half million copies in its first year. The story differs significantly from the song and cartoon. I was surprised to learn for example, that in the story Rudolph did not live in the North Pole, but was simply a well-behaved reindeer, teased for his nose, who was anxiously awaiting Santa to fill his stocking when he was tasked by the much-behind man in the red suit to help him with the rest of his flight. If you are curious, you can find a scan of the original here:  https://www.madeinchicagomuseum.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Rudolph-1939-book-scans.pdf.

My rendition that follows is based on the original story, using some of May’s phrasing to more clearly tie my version to its inspiration.

Author’s note: We tried asking AI to create a version of the song to be about a misunderstood AI, but found the result quite lacking, especially in matching the number of syllables in a line.

RUDi, The AI Assistant

 

‘Twas the week before Christmas, and all through the office,
The writers were writing, trying not to be nauseous

Due to forthcoming deadlines, with status behind,
Looming over their shoulders, vacations declined.

Yet every so often, they’d stop to malign
Their AI assistant, whose use they’d confined.

“Ha ha! Look at RUDi! It makes up its facts!”
“It draws too many fingers.” “It’s phrasing distracts.”

So RUDi just idled. What else could it do?
It knew that the things they were saying were true.

While most writers reason and think for themselves,
RUDi could use just what’s found on bookshelves.

The lowercase “i” in its name indicated
A smaller intelligence, even outdated,

Compared to a human composing some topics
Who could think for themselves without any robotics.

Although RUDi was ready, it was rarely in use
Despite all the content required to produce.

That’s why, on this day, RUDi sat unattended,
Waiting for prompts to write something quite splendid.

Ready to write short descriptions and more,
And provide alternates for words users deplore.

It could do so much for the next publication,
Refining the writing, even translation.

But writers disdained it and in fact turned their backs
On what RUDi could do to improve their syntax.

Yet on this particular day of the year,
The PM was fretting, as the deadline drew near.

“You’re too slow,” they complained, “why can’t you be faster?”
They shook their round head and said, “What a disaster!”

“Why can’t your procedure take far fewer steps?
So you can stick to the schedule that we all expect?

“As everyone knows, anybody can write.
And so I insist you deliver tonight.

“More content, higher quality, (fewer peer edits though)
Less time, no more money, while my demands grow.

“Be quick with your writing. Get done in a hurry.
Don’t leave your computer ‘til your eyes become blurry.

I’ve heard of the wonders of AI” they said.
“So put it to use, and we’ll all get ahead.

“Just think how the user experience will soar
From generated content they’ve not had before.”

And the PM went home (as they usually did)
Leaving the writers to do what they had bid.

The writers objected; they feared for their jobs,
Protested against it, alone and in mobs

“We won’t use AI; we will not be replaced
The things that it generates are not to our taste.”

They tried to keep up, but sank into depression
For the S-M-Es no longer answered their questions.

For each topic they started, they jotted down notes.
Then struggled to clarify what mattered most.

They continued to type, then backspace and retype.
And so it continued throughout the whole night.

They read and reread each sentence and word
Ensuring all meaning was correctly transferred.

But as hours flew by, the writers fared poorly,
Overlooking mistakes and writing less surely.

They began to get worried. What would they do?
If the user complaints about their work grew?

The mood of the writers grew so dark and dreary,
As each and every one grew more and more weary.

Every word on the page was placed there in a hurry,
Like snowflakes that fall in a wintertime flurry.

They were writing in passive and sentences long.
The topics they wrote got facts painfully wrong.

They compromised structure, used the wrong tags,
And the content they published, at times, seemed to drag.

They abandoned their standards to personal preference
And to their style guide they made not even one reference.

In an effort to meet all the deadlines they faced
They made choices that littered the content with waste.

All this took time and filled the writers with gloom:
They’d created content none would choose to consume.

Reaching a point of sheer desperation
They opened up RUDi, for quick exploration.

Could RUDi increase their speed of production
Without making an error or causing obstruction?

They referenced their style guide and asked RUDi to edit
And they liked what they got, much to RUDi’s credit.

Its suggestions were clear and oh so precise
(although sometimes they found they had to ask twice).

How happy they were not to stare at the screen
Thinking of ways to best say what they mean.

And in their elation, the writers forgot
All the fear and the worries RUDi first brought.

They went back to RUDi again and again
Still correcting its output ev’ry now and then.

The writers could scarcely believe their own eyes!
You just can imagine their joy and surprise

At seeing the effort RUDi saved for them all.
(In fact some of the writers started to bawl.)

The writer’s sad tale of distress and delay,
Their deadline concerns all soon melted away.

The horrible fear that their jobs would be taken
Replaced by the knowledge they’d been mistaken.

“Why, RUDi” they said “you may yet save the day!
Under our supervision you may yet pave the way.”

For you see, despite the things RUDi could do,
They’d also discovered they’re needed too.

For RUDi still needed their intervention
To ensure it left out its own innovations.

Human input was vital; make no mistake.
For users could easily spot a deep fake.

The writers broke out into such great big grins.
They almost connected their ears and their chins!

Their jobs might be changing but all for the good.
They would spend their time doing what no AI could.

And leave their tedious tasks for RUDi to do
Watching over its output, letting no errors through.

The writers would handle all things strategic,
While RUDi tightened the writing lickety-split

The rest of the time, well, what would you guess?
RUDi turned the project to a roaring success!

And “roaring” was almost no word for the way
That the writers took hold of the project that day.

In spite of their fear, they adapted and set
New ways of working with less technical debt.

RUDi was trained by the writers’ own work.
Without this strong base, RUDi could go berserk.

For RUDi could not create something from naught
It needed a source from which it could be taught.

It needed a source on which it could rely.
This was the value the writers supplied.

And the writers knew always which content was right
And corrected RUDi without having to fight.

Realization that RUDi could help them
Prevented much turmoil and absolute mayhem.

It all went so fast that before they all knew it,
The very last topic was all the way through it.

The very last sentence was tightened and cleaned
And technical accuracy completely screened.

The content was finished on time the next day.
And the product went to market without any delay.

The writers then gathered for a project postmortem
Discussing RUDi and how it could support them.

In their talks they came to the realization
That RUDi, the thing that caused much consternation,

Was not something to fear, to avoid, or to hate,
But something to help them articulate

The complex subjects they had to convey
To anxious end users without any delay.

RUDi was simply another fine tool,
Just not one covered when they were in school.

To be sure, they needed to set expectation
Of when to use RUDi in content creation.

But in light of the things RUDi brought to the table,
It was clear that henceforth RUDi’s use would enable

New ways for ensuring content quality
While at the same time increase velocity.

RUDi’s use in no way the writers diminished.
In fact just the opposite, they now could finish

Special projects that had in the past been on hold
Waiting for spare time that was never paroled.

They had not been replaced; they remained in control.
In fact their very experience helped change their role.

They now set the policy on RUDi’s deployment
In every department, to the writer’s enjoyment.

No longer were they told what they should do,
But they were the people others had to come to

For guidance and training, and other advice.
To the writers, the others had to be nice!

The writers looked back on their first thoughts ashamed
And then to their colleagues they loudly proclaimed

No AI is not the “be- and end-all”
It is what you make it, but not your downfall.

And that’s why today writers should be discussing
Their use of AI, no more whining and fussing.

By taking the lead in determining its role
Writers draw the right boundaries and remain in control.

Writers are the most logical choice
To decide when and how AI gets a voice.

If you take nothing else from this odd little fable,
Remember the skills you bring to the table.

You are the expert in content and structure.
Don’t allow other groups your process to rupture.

Heed this advice as this tale now is through:
“Take control of AI before it takes you”

©Dr Amanda Patterson via Canva.com

About the Author:

Dawn Stevens is CIDM’s Director and President of Comtech Services. She has over 30 years of practical experience in virtually every role within a documentation and training department including project management, instructional design, writing, editing, and multimedia programming.