Language is meant to connect us, yet in many fields, it does the opposite. Ever tried to read a legal contract and felt like you were deciphering an ancient code? Or glanced at a medical report only to be left wondering what half the words even mean? Even academic papers—written by some of the world’s sharpest minds—can be so dense that they feel like a test of endurance rather than a source of knowledge.
This isn’t an accident. In law, medicine, academia, and even literature, language is often used as a barrier rather than a bridge. The complexity isn’t always necessary; sometimes, it’s just tradition or a way to keep outsiders dependent on experts.
But that’s starting to change. AI is stepping in, breaking down these walls, and giving more people access to the knowledge that has long been locked away behind jargon and exclusivity.
Aviation’s Secret to Clear Communication
Some professions have no choice but to be crystal clear. Take aviation, for example. When a pilot speaks to air traffic control, there’s no room for confusion—lives depend on it. That’s why aviation uses a stripped-down version of English where every phrase is short, precise, and unambiguous. Pilots don’t say, “Could you repeat that, please?” They say, “Say again.” There’s no “Are we good to land?” It’s “Cleared to land, Runway Two-Seven Left.”
This system works. It prevents misunderstandings, saves time, and ensures that crucial information is always received as intended. If aviation can simplify communication without losing accuracy, why can’t other fields?
The truth is, most industries resist simplification because complexity serves as a form of power. Lawyers, doctors, and academics have spent years mastering specialized language, and part of their authority comes from speaking a “code” that outsiders can’t fully understand. But what if you didn’t need a law degree to understand your own contract? Or a medical degree to decode your test results?
That’s where AI comes in.
Why Legal and Medical Language is So Hard to Understand
Think about the last time you signed a contract. Did you actually read all of it? Even if you tried, chances are you found yourself wading through a swamp of hereinafters, notwithstandings, and shall be deemeds. Legal writing is famous for making simple things sound complicated:
The party of the first part shall indemnify the party of the second part against any and all liabilities arising from said agreement.
Translation: If something goes wrong, Party A will cover Party B’s costs.
The same happens in medicine. Doctors say “myocardial infarction” instead of “heart attack,” “edema” instead of “swelling,” “contusion” instead of “bruise.” It’s not that these terms are wrong, but why not just say what people understand?
Some professionals argue that this complexity is necessary for precision. That’s true in certain cases, but much of the time, the jargon is just habit or an attempt to maintain authority. The more confusing the language, the more the average person has to rely on an expert to translate.
But AI is cutting out the middleman. Now, with the click of a button, you can feed a legal contract or a medical report into an AI tool and get a plain English translation.
Instead of a lawyer explaining your lease agreement, AI gives you a clear breakdown of your rights. Instead of blindly trusting a diagnosis, AI translates your test results into something you can actually understand.
This doesn’t eliminate the need for doctors or lawyers, but it does empower people to ask the right questions and make informed decisions.
Academia: When Intelligence Becomes a Puzzle
If legal and medical language make life difficult, academic writing makes it nearly impossible. Ideally, research should be clear, but in reality, many academic papers are unnecessarily dense and filled with words no one uses in normal conversation.
Ever read something like this?
The dialectical synthesis of the self-other relation within the framework of Hegelian phenomenology necessitates an ongoing negotiation of subjectivity vis-à-vis the intersubjective field, thereby constituting a fluid identity formation process.
Now, let’s be honest: Did that actually need to be that complicated? Couldn’t it just say it as follows?
Hegel’s philosophy says our identity changes based on how we interact with others.
This kind of writing isn’t just hard to read—it shuts people out. If you don’t have years of academic training, you’re not supposed to understand it. But AI is changing that.
- It can summarize research papers in seconds.
- It can define difficult concepts in everyday language without losing meaning.
- It can make knowledge more accessible to people outside academia, opening the doors to those who might actually apply it in real life.
The more AI helps translate research into clear insights, the more likely it is that real-world problems—climate change, medical breakthroughs, social policies—can be tackled by everyone, not just those who can decode academic language.
Can AI Help Us Understand Literature, Too?
Unlike legal and academic writing, literature isn’t meant to be simple. Novels and poetry thrive on rich language, hidden meanings, and ambiguity. But that doesn’t mean AI can’t be a helpful companion.
Think about classic literature. Many people struggle with Shakespeare’s plays or epic novels like Moby-Dick simply because the language is outdated. AI can act as a literary guide, explaining complex passages while keeping the original beauty intact.
Take Hamlet’s famous line:
To die, to sleep—To sleep—perchance to dream—ay, there’s the rub!
AI can quickly explain:
Hamlet wonders if death is like sleep and whether we experience dreams in that state. This uncertainty troubles him.
It doesn’t replace the text—it helps readers appreciate it more deeply. AI can also:
- Break down poetic structures (meter, rhyme, symbolism).
- Provide historical context for books set in different eras.
- Compare different translations of classic works, showing how meaning shifts with word choice.
This means literature remains an art, but fewer people feel excluded from enjoying it.
Language Without Barriers
For too long, complex language has been used as a form of power and exclusivity. Legal contracts, medical reports, academic research, and even classic literature have been written in ways that make them hard for the average person to understand. But AI is changing that.
Now, we no longer have to rely on experts to translate jargon. We can decode it ourselves.
This isn’t about making everything simple—it’s about making knowledge accessible. When legal rights, medical diagnoses, and groundbreaking research become understandable to everyone, we create a more informed, more empowered society.
Experts will still be needed, but they will no longer hold all the control. AI is shifting the balance, ensuring that knowledge belongs to everyone, not just those trained in the language of exclusivity.
The walls built around specialized knowledge are starting to crumble. And that means, for the first time, understanding is no longer a privilege—it’s a right.
Image: A photo captured by the author.
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