Typing has been a valuable skill for as long as we can remember. It has been the key aspect to our everyday lives in places like work, school and pretty much everywhere. But. we are now in the era of AI, one of the most disruptive technologies that’s changing the way we have always done virtually everything. Now, you’re probably wondering how AI will impact typing as we’ve always known it. Is it the beginning of the end for typing as we have known it? Lets explore!
How Typing Has Evolved Over the Years
Before delving into how AI will change typing, it is perhaps best to understand how typing has evolved over the years with technology.
Now, typing dates back to the 1860s when it first became a thing with the introduction of the first successful typewriter. This success was closely followed with the introduction of the now standard keyboard layout, QWERTY, in 1873.
The turning point historically, however, began in the 1980s where personal computers became a thing, transforming typing from an office setting skill to an everyday requirement.
In the 1990s and early 2000s mobile phones became popular as more people around the world got access and learnt how to communicate on small gadgets instead of the bulky computers.
The rise of these devices led to the likes of touch-based smartphones, autocorrect and swipe-based inputs.
Soon after, AI-powered tools like virtual keyboards and apps like Grammarly followed and started delivering typing corrections and suggestions in real-time.
This was actually the birth of AI in typing even before the buzz around ChatGPT and generative AI. Yes, even before ChaGPT, the likes of predictive text and autocomplete features powered by AI were already helping us make typing better and easier.
In fact, in the past decade or so, many smartphones and apps were already using machine learning models to do things like correcting typos, suggesting the next word or finishing sentences for you.
In other words typing had already been impacted by AI, albeit, at a minute level. The big question,though, is how it will change now that AI is expected to get better and much more intelligent in the coming years.
The Myths & Truths of AI Replacing Typing
You’ve probably heard it in the news or read about how AI is taking over jobs. It’s true that AI is changing jobs that require typing like copywriting. But, it isn’t expected to kill AI killing typing altogether, at least not anytime soon.
Here is why:
â—¾AI Relies on Typing for Text Prompts
For one whereas it is true that as of now we have become over reliant on AI, remember AI is not an independent tool.
At the moment most of these consumer-facing AI platforms are still built such that you have to enter text prompts to get AI generated feedback. Typically, you might then need to refine your prompts until you get the results you’re looking for.
From this perspective AI will likely reduce traditional typing but it is less likely to completely replace entire typing!
It’s likely that it will keep complimenting typing for best results in the foreseeable future. Besides, typing is expected to still be a core skill for most jobs like programming, data entry and many more in the coming years.
â—¾Voice typing is Not there, Yet
If you’ve interacted with either Siri or Alexa know the struggle with using voice commands. Sometimes AI-based models are not accurate in picking up voice commands especially, among non-native speakers. There are also places where using voice commands instead of typing tends to be impractical.
For example, you certainly don’t want to speak aloud to issue commands in a public place like a coffee shop or even in an office setting. In such a scenario you are definitely better off typing out those private messages or writing personal notes!
â—¾Not Everyone Likes AI-generated Texts!
While most companies and people are loving the ease of using AI to generate content, some still prefer the creativity, emotions and originality of human-generated content. In schools, for example, students are still getting penalized for submitting plagiarized and AI-generated work.
We’ve already seen cases where students lost scholarships or were even expelled for using AI for schoolwork.
So, while it is true that AI will play a major part in things like creating drafts for assignments and learning resources, typing work will still be needed in schoolwork and such areas.
The Dangers of AI Replacing Typing
Truth be told, we are all getting heavily reliant on tools like ChatGPT. As we’ve mentioned, the likes of students are relying on AI tools like ChatGPT for auto-generated essays and thesis.
Employees at work are now heavily relying on AI tools for workflows email text generation. Even authors are now using AI to write or at least co-write their books.
Though AI has undeniably made our lives better, it is no brainer that typing allows us to think before we type, adding that human touch to both our verbal and written speech.
With technologies like voice typing and AI generated texts are we really achieving that?
While AI tools and models like ChatGPT and Copilot generate content unique to each user, they tend to lack the originality and the creativity that stem from human emotions. Of course, AI will become more and more refined in future. It will get better at creating better outputs but that originality with a human touch will still be a problem.
The Future of AI and Typing
So, will AI completely take over typing?
Well, despite our over reliance on AI-powered tools, No AI is not here to replace but to coexist with typing!
It will likely change traditional typing or rather, it will make typing even much better. AI will give us smarter tools in predicting and auto correcting texts meaning you are bound to spend less time trying to correct your mistakes the old manual way.
Thanks to AI we will be able to type and more or less have that assistant to get more work done faster.
It will be here to help us refine ideas and thoughts!
Wrapping up
In a nutshell, AI will certainly impact every facet of our lives including typing but it’s likely that it won’t kill it altogether. In fact, AI is expected to keep coexisting with typing. AI is expected to get smarter in understanding context as you type. It will thus get better in anticipation of what you’re trying to say. It is thus bound to transform the traditional typing into a much better experience in the coming years.