Martin Fowler argues that writing practice is also thinking practice

Martin Fowler argues that delegating prose can also delegate the work of clarifying an idea. He recommends authors develop their own wording and practice writing rather than rely on an AI draft that they later edit. He also doubts both automated detectors and his own ability to identify AI-written text reliably, while acknowledging accessibility cases where assistance makes writing possible.

Martin Fowler · Oct 29, 2026

Why it matters

Engineers writing explanations and design documents need to evaluate whether the process improves their understanding as well as the final text.

More context

The October 29 essay is an opinion about communicating with human readers. Fowler describes speaking sentences mentally before writing them and declaring AI assistance on his site. Try explaining one technical decision in your own words before judging the result’s fluency.

Keep in mind

This is a writer’s judgment, not a controlled study of comprehension or detector accuracy. He explicitly allows exceptions, including disability support, translation and routine process-oriented correspondence.

Original read