Documentation is not just support material anymore. It is quietly becoming a product surface, a competitive advantage, and in many cases the raw fuel that AI systems use to help customers get work done.
I’m joined by Niko Berry, a former technical writer who now works in product management at Contentful. We start with his move from technical writing into product management and the skills that carried over: technical storytelling, interviewing, and the ability to translate complexity across audiences.
But the conversation quickly moves into a bigger question: What happens to documentation when AI becomes another way users interact with a product?
We unpack headless CMS, structured content, APIs, and MCP in practical terms. Niko explains why separating content from presentation matters when that content may be consumed not only by websites and apps, but also by LLMs that interpret it for users or take action on their behalf.
That shift makes context, structure, and governance increasingly important. If AI becomes another interface to your product, the quality of the experience still depends on the quality of the information underneath it.
We also get into the tradeoffs: hallucinations, lower-quality AI-generated content, brand trust, data privacy, and a concern that gets less attention than job replacement—the fragmentation that comes from being expected to do more simply because AI makes us faster.
This conversation is ultimately about more than using AI to write documentation. It’s about what documentation becomes when AI starts consuming it.
Season 8 of Inside Tech Comm is sponsored by LavaCon. Use discount code ITC26 to save $200 on registration for LavaCon 2026.
Show Credits
- Intro and outro music - Az
- Audio engineer - RJ Basilio
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