AI generates text but understanding and judgement remain human. That’s why plain language is AI’s natural ally.

More is written today than ever before. Every day, millions of emails, reports, contracts, posts, corporate documents and digital content are produced. How much of it is written with the help of artificial intelligence?

At first glance, it might seem that this technological revolution makes plain language less necessary. If machines write better than ever, shouldn’t comprehension problems simply disappear?

But the evidence points in the opposite direction. The more content we produce, the more important it becomes to make sure people actually understand it — and the harder it becomes to stand out.

AI solves the problem of production, but not the problem of comprehension, usefulness and truthfulness. If your company can grasp that difference, you have what it takes to adapt.

Artificial intelligence can produce Information fast: it drafts emails, summarizes documents, generates contracts, creates procedures and translates content. But producing text and ensuring comprehension are not the same thing. How much of what we read do we really understand?

For example, if a person doesn’t know the context, they might struggle to understand an email, even if it’s well structured and grammatically correct. A procedure may be perfectly worded yet lead to mistakes if someone without the necessary skills tries to follow it.

Understanding does not depend on the words alone. It also depends on the context, the expectations, the prior knowledge and the needs of the person receiving the information. That is where human involvement remains essential, and where plain language as a methodology contributes what no technological tool can replace: judgment.

Up until recently, organisations faced a fairly concrete challenge: producing enough content. Now the challenge is comprehension, not production.

When a company multiplies its capacity to generate content thanks to artificial intelligence, it also multiplies the risk of creating:

Too much Information can make things worse.

The costs of poor communication such as increased queries, complaints and errors do not go away with more content. If anything, they multiply at the same rate as the content does.

One of the most common mistakes when using artificial intelligence is assuming that a well-written text is necessarily a clear one.

Plain language starts from a different question: can a person understand this information easily and act on it? And answering it well still calls for experience, methodology and knowledge of the reader. The ISO 24495 certification sets out exactly that framework: a professional standard for assessing whether a text meets the criteria for clarity, no matter how it was produced.

As the automated production of content grows, so does the importance of trust. Organisations need their customers, users and employees to correctly understand the information they receive. Generating documents is not enough. You have to generate understanding.

When people understand what they are signing, what they are buying or what they are supposed to do, they experience less uncertainty and less friction in their relationship with the organisation. In an increasingly automated environment, that trust becomes a competitive advantage. We are already seeing this in sectors such as insurance, where clear communication with customers has gone from being good practice to a demand from both the market and the regulator.

Artificial intelligence can help generate drafts, spot redundancies or simplify certain parts of the writing process. Plain language provides the criteria needed to assess whether the final result genuinely meets its goal. This isn’t about writing faster. It’s about communicating better.

Accessibility is part of the future too

The conversation about artificial intelligence tends to focus on productivity. There is, however, another issue that matters just as much: accessibility. More and more organisations have to ensure that their communications can be understood by diverse audiences, and European regulation is explicitly accelerating that shift.

The European Accessibility Act and the recommendations of regulatory bodies such as the CNMV and the Bank of Spain point to comprehensibility as a requirement, not an option. In this context, plain language stops being a recommendation and becomes a strategic tool — one that not only helps meet regulatory requirements but also ensures that information genuinely reaches the people who need it.

Artificial intelligence is transforming many writing-related tasks. That does not mean the work of language professionals disappears. It means it changes.

Producing text from scratch will be less and less the heart of the job. Reviewing, assessing, adapting and improving communication will matter more and more. Organisations will still need people who can spot ambiguities, identify comprehension risks and make sure messages do their job. In other words: they will still need judgment. And judgment remains profoundly human.

For years, the assumption was that more content meant better results. Artificial intelligence is showing that producing content is no longer the hard problem. That is why value is shifting: toward quality, toward comprehension, toward the ability to communicate clearly. Organizations that understand this shift will have a real advantage, because they won’t compete merely on generating more information, but on generating information that people understand and trust.

Antonio is the founder and managing director of Cálamo&Cran, established in 1997. He is a consultant in written communication and clear language, and co-author of several books on language, editing and plain language. He has founded or co-founded professional initiatives including UniCo, the Spanish Union of Copy-editors; SEA, the Spanish Editors Association; EnClaro; La lectora futura; and Publishnews.

See Antonio Martin’s LinkedIn profile or visit the Cálamo&Cran website.