"The Medium Is the Message" in the LLM Era: The Shift in Information Flow from Humans to AI

1. The Arrival of the LLM Era and Changes in Information Consumption

In 2025, we still write most content for humans. But the center of information consumption is shifting from humans to LLMs (Large Language Models).

"99.9% of attention is now shifting from human attention to LLM attention."

For example, most library documents are still structured as static HTML pages assuming humans will click and read them. But this approach is increasingly outdated. AI reading documents and providing summaries or answers to humans is becoming the mainstream.

2. A New Meaning of "The Medium Is the Message"

This change recalls Marshall McLuhan's famous theory, "The medium is the message." McLuhan argued that the medium itself changes the nature and value of information — a proposition that takes on even more powerful meaning in the AI era.

"As LLMs become the primary medium through which information flows, 'the medium is the message' takes on new meaning."

When television emerged, it changed the standards for effective communication in ways that differed from radio or print. For example, the 1960 U.S. presidential Kennedy-Nixon TV debate demonstrated this vividly.

"In the television era, it wasn't the candidate with better policies who won, but the one with a better image. Kennedy won on TV; Nixon won on radio."

Just as the change in medium redefines not merely how information is delivered but the value and accessibility of information itself, LLMs are now rewriting the nature of information just as television once did.

3. The End of Human-Centered Documentation

For the past 50 years, we've written documents assuming humans would read them directly. We divided documents into sections, added screenshots, and designed navigation — all optimized for human readers. But this approach is becoming a relic of the past.

"Today, most people don't read documents directly. Instead, they ask AI questions, and AI reads the documents to provide answers."

Now, human-centered documents are merely an inefficient middleware. In an era where AI reads and summarizes documents, documentation methods must be optimized for AI to process efficiently.

4. Key Concepts and Summary

• LLM (Large Language Models): The new entity that consumes and processes information instead of humans.
• The medium is the message: LLMs are redefining the nature and value of information.
• Changing information consumption: Transitioning from documents humans read directly to an AI-reads-and-summarizes model.
• Redefining efficiency: Human-centered documentation is inefficient; AI-centered optimization is needed.

5. Conclusion

The LLM era isn't merely a technological advancement — it's fundamentally changing the flow and consumption of information. Just as television transformed communication standards in the past, LLMs are now redefining the value and accessibility of information. Going forward, documentation and information design will center on AI, not humans.

"We now live in an era where we must write documents for AI, not humans."