SimpleEnglish: Using Aerospace Standards to Fix AI Writing

SimpleEnglish is a tool that forces AI agents to follow the ASD-STE100 Simplified Technical English standard used in aerospace manuals. It eliminates wordy 'AI slop' by enforcing 53 strict rules on sentence structure, voice, and vocabulary. Testing proves it reduces writing errors by over 70% while making AI-generated documentation shorter and easier to understand.

Key Points

• LLMs often produce 'AI slop' that is wordy and ambiguous, which SimpleEnglish fixes by enforcing the ASD-STE100 aerospace writing standard.
• The skill implements 53 specific rules, including strict sentence length limits, active voice requirements, and the removal of hedging language like 'should' or 'might'.
• Empirical testing shows a 72.9% reduction in writing violations and shorter overall output across multiple AI models.
• The tool is designed for technical use cases such as documentation, error messages, runbooks, and incident reports where clarity is critical for safety.
• It is highly accessible, supporting the Agent Skills standard for CLI tools and providing system prompts for web-based chatbots like ChatGPT and Gemini.

Sentiment

Mixed to Skeptical

In Agreement

• The STE standard is an effective way to combat 'AI slop' and overly verbose LLM outputs.
• Enforcing a strict standard like ASD-STE100 makes technical documentation more tolerable and less confusing for readers.
• The standard could be useful beyond documentation, such as in emails and Slack messages to improve clarity.
• Newer LLM models are increasingly prone to overcomplicating simple concepts, making enforcement tools more relevant.

Opposed

• A dedicated 'skill' or package is unnecessary because a simple system prompt can achieve the same result.
• The project's own documentation exhibits the 'AI-isms' it claims to prevent, undermining its credibility.
• The ASD-STE100 standard itself contains rules that can be self-defeating or create new ambiguities for those unfamiliar with the specific rules.
• Using third-party 'skills' introduces unnecessary security risks compared to manual prompting.
• The sudden popularity of STE on forums like Hacker News is viewed by some as a 'low-effort' or 'mindless' productivity trend.