WYSIWYG Is Dead, Long Live TIIWYG (Tell It Is What You Get)
Tags: genai
Published: 2024-07-11 17:30:13

The era of WYSIWYG — What You See Is What You Get — is drawing to a close. This beloved technology revolutionized content creation by allowing users to directly manipulate text and images, making it instantly clear how the final product would appear. However, as technology advances, so too must our tools and methodologies. Enter TIIWYG — Tell It Is What You et, pronounced “tee-wig.”

In the days of WYSIWYG, users were artisans, meticulously crafting each element of their content. They had complete control over every pixel, word, and image placement. This hands-on approach, while powerful, was also labor-intensive and required a steep learning curve. With the advent of generative AI, the paradigm has shifted dramatically. We no longer need to be craftsmen; instead, we have become directors, orchestrating our content from a higher vantage point.

With TIIWYG instead of manually tweaking every aspect of a document or design, users now simply instruct the AI on what they want. The AI, in turn, generates the content according to those instructions. It’s a natural evolution in our interaction with technology, making content creation more accessible, efficient, and innovative.

Consider this: you’re working on a report and need a chart to illustrate your data. Under the WYSIWYG model, you would painstakingly create the chart yourself, adjusting every detail. With TIIWYG, you simply tell the AI, “Create a bar chart showing quarterly sales data,” and it does so instantly. Don’t like the color? Just tell it, “Make it brighter.” This isn’t just about saving time — it’s about leveraging AI’s capabilities to enhance creativity and productivity.

The transition to TIIWYG also broadens access to content creation. You no longer need to be an expert in graphic design, coding, or formatting. Your role is to provide clear instructions and vision, and the AI handles the execution. This empowers more people to create high-quality content, regardless of their technical skill level.

Moreover, TIIWYG fosters a more dynamic interaction with technology. It’s like having a conversation with a knowledgeable assistant who understands your needs and delivers precisely what you want. This interactive model is more intuitive and aligns well with how we naturally communicate, making technology feel more like an extension of our thoughts rather than a tool we must master.

For this transition to be successful, every tool that supports user editing must evolve to accommodate TIIWYG. WYSIWYG required tools to create a modifiable, structured representation of the content. TIIWYG builds on this foundation but adds more requirements. For instance, the tool must equip the AI with knowledge of all available operations and train it to use them effectively. TIIWYG tools must also be able to show the potential changes the AI suggests, allowing the user to approve or refine them further. Additionally, these tools should learn from the user’s input to apply these preferences in future interactions, whether for the current project or subsequent ones.

As we stand at this technological crossroads, it’s clear that the future of content creation lies in the power of telling AI what we want and getting precisely that. WYSIWYG revolutionized productivity, but TIIWYG promises even greater advancements. With its promise of efficiency, accessibility, and enhanced creativity, TIIWYG is poised to become the new standard, redefining the possibilities of what we can achieve.

Full disclosure, this article was TIIWYG’ed.