The End of Reading and Writing? AI’s Grand Rewrite of Human Communication
This article takes approximately 4 minutes to read.
There are some ideas so bold, so disruptive, that they sound like pure sci-fi—until they’re not.
Here’s one: Your grandchildren might never need to read or write.
Not because they won’t be educated, not because literacy will decline, but because text as we know it may become obsolete—a relic of human communication, much like cave paintings or the typewriter.
Before you dismiss this as nonsense, let’s break it down.
Text: The Best We Had, But Not the Best We’ll Have
For centuries, we’ve relied on text to capture knowledge, tell stories, and preserve history. But text has always been a compromise—a way to encode complex thoughts into simple symbols. It works, but it’s inefficient.
Text strips away meaning – When we speak, we don’t just use words. We use tone, facial expressions, gestures, and pauses. All of that disappears in text.
Text is slow – Reading takes effort. A book that takes hours to read could be understood in minutes through a well-crafted video.
Text is open to misinterpretation – "We need to talk." Is that good? Bad? A breakup? A promotion? No way to tell. Emojis helped a little, but let’s be honest—🤨 is still open to debate.
Text was never the perfect way to communicate. It was just the best we had.
Until now.
AI Is Smashing the Barriers of Content Creation
For thousands of years, the biggest limitation of communication was cost—not money, but effort. Writing a book takes time. Filming a movie requires massive resources. That’s why text became dominant: it was scalable.
But AI is about to change the cost equation completely.
Anyone can now create high-quality video, instantly.
AI-generated avatars can deliver messages in your voice, with your face.
Interactive media will replace static text.
Why struggle to read a 50-page report when an AI-generated CEO can summarize it for you in 90 seconds of hyper-personalized video? Why force students to decipher abstract science textbooks when AI tutors can visually demonstrate quantum physics, step by step?
Text will still exist. But it won’t be the primary way we communicate.
The Digital Economy Has Already Moved On
Think about how you consume information today.
TikTok is the fastest-growing search engine.
YouTube is where people learn, not books.
Podcasts are replacing traditional journalism.
This isn’t happening because people are lazy. It’s happening because better formats exist.
We evolved to process sound and visuals long before we learned to read. The shift away from text isn’t about attention spans—it’s about efficiency. And AI is accelerating that shift.
Welcome to the Age of AI-Native Content
So, what happens next?
Right now, most AI-generated content is just old formats recreated with new tools—AI-written articles, AI-generated videos that look like normal broadcasts. But soon, AI won’t just create content. It will completely reinvent the format.
Your AI assistant won’t send you an email. It will deliver a custom video briefing, tailored to your day.
Instead of watching a static Netflix show, you’ll experience AI-generated, interactive storytelling where the plot adapts in real time.
Your kids won’t read history books. They’ll interact with AI-powered historical figures, having real-time conversations with a digital Napoleon or Einstein.
And the best part? You won’t need to be a filmmaker, coder, or content creator to produce Hollywood-grade video. AI will do it for you.
But Will We Lose Something?
Of course, not everyone loves this idea. Some will say:
“But books make us think deeply!”
“Long-form reading is essential for intelligence!”
“We’ll become lazy if everything is video!”
Maybe. But maybe not.
People said the same thing about the printing press ("Books will ruin memory!"), about radio ("People will stop reading!"), about TV ("It will make us dumb!"), and about the internet ("No one will think for themselves!").
Yet, somehow, every generation has learned more, not less.
Maybe the real problem isn’t that text is dying. Perhaps we’re just realizing how outdated it is.
Final Thought: AI Won’t Kill Text—But It Will Shrink It
Reading and writing won’t disappear overnight. They’ll still have a place—just like vinyl records still exist, just like theater still thrives despite film.
But text will no longer be the default.
Video, AI-generated content, and immersive experiences will take over—not because they’re trendy, but because they’re better.
And if that sounds scary, remember: Every great leap in human communication initially felt strange.
But once we experience what comes next, we’ll wonder how we ever lived without it.
#OGApproved 🚀
Video Inspiration:
