Signs of AI Writing, and How to Fix Them
The signs of AI writing go well past em dashes. These are the word habits, sentence patterns and missing personal detail that make business copy feel machine-made, and how to fix each one so it sounds like you.
The short answer
The signs of AI writing are habits: the same polished words, a warm-up first sentence, lists of three, "it's not this, it's that", every sentence the same length, and a tidy recap at the end. The biggest sign is that nobody is in it. There's no opinion, no story, nothing only you could have written. Taking out the em dashes won't fix that.
At a glance
- Time
- About 10 minutes a page
- Tools
- Any AI you write with
- Works on
- Emails, posts, website copy
- Free
- Checklist and prompt
You wrote something with AI. An email, a post, a page on your website.
The grammar is good. It says what you wanted it to say. And something still feels off, and you can't put your finger on it.
That feeling matters more than it seems. In surveys, only 7% of people say AI-generated marketing makes them trust a brand more. 31% say it makes them trust the brand less.
I didn't pull this list out of thin air. I went through a page on Wikipedia called Signs of AI Writing, kept up by volunteers whose whole job is cleaning AI writing off Wikipedia, so they've gotten very good at spotting it. I also looked at an analysis of over 300,000 ChatGPT messages and what it leans on most.
Then I pulled out what actually shows up in business copy, and added a few of my own that aren't on any of those lists.
Watch the video above to see me go through them all.
Key takeaways
- 01
AI gives you the most typical version of whatever you ask for. It learned from a huge amount of writing, so without your input it fills the gaps with its own habits, and everyone gets the same habits back.
- 02
Removing the em dashes isn't enough. The overused words change every time a model is updated, but the sentence patterns stay the same, so copy can still feel like AI with every word on the list taken out.
- 03
Reading your copy out loud catches the evenness. People write sentences of different lengths, and AI keeps sentences and paragraphs about the same size, which is a big part of why it sounds like a recording.
- 04
The biggest tell is that there's no person in it. No opinion, no story, nothing about your actual customers, because AI doesn't know any of that unless you tell it.
- 05
Don't strip every pattern out of everything. If you do, you create a new pattern people will learn to spot, so keep the habits that are really yours.
When I read copy, mine or anybody else's, the first thing I ask is: where's the person in this?
That's the one I added myself, and it's the one I think people are actually reacting to. You can read something with no em dashes and no lists of three, and it still feels like AI wrote it.
That's because there's no person behind it. Nothing you notice. Nothing that makes you think only this person could have written it.
Fixing it is usually small. I add a sentence or two. But I know I have to add something, because AI can't. It doesn't know what happened with your customer last week, or how you talk about the people you serve.
Prefer to watch
13:19How to check your own copy
Swap out the obvious ones first
Start with what's easy to see. Em dashes, the long dash, are the famous one. Good writers use them all the time, but AI uses a lot of them, and right now readers see one and think AI. Swap a few for a period, unless that really is how you write.
Then look for the words that make a sentence sound more important without saying more: emphasizing, showcasing, highlighting. Put in the word you'd actually use.
While you're there, take out bold text scattered all over the place and the emoji at the start of every line. When half the post is bold, nothing stands out.
Cut the first sentence and the last one
AI likes to warm up before it gets to the point. "In today's fast-paced world." "In an era where everything's changing."
Delete the first sentence and see if you miss it. Usually you won't, and the post starts right at the point.
Then check the end. "I hope this helps." "Happy writing." AI is built to be friendly, so it wraps things up like a conversation. In a post or an email, it's just an extra line.
Read it out loud
When you and I talk, our sentences come out at different lengths. Some are short. Some go on for a while because we're still working out what we want to say.
AI keeps everything at about the same length, sentences and paragraphs both. That evenness is a lot of what makes it feel off.
If it sounds a little like a recording when you read it out loud, that's probably why.
Look for the patterns that survive a word swap
These are the ones that stay after you've changed every word on the list.
- Lists of three: "Save time. Cut costs. Grow faster." Three sounds complete, so AI loves it, but often there are only two real things and the third got thrown in. Ask whether you need all three. - What it isn't, then what it is: "It's not a tool, it's a system." The second half is the real point, so just say that. - Matching short sentences in a row: "Always clear. Always tidy." Once is fine. When it keeps happening, the whole thing feels off.
Cut the lead-ins and the transitions
"Here's the thing." "Here's the part nobody talks about." That's announcing a point instead of making it. Cut it and start with the point.
Do the same with "additionally", "furthermore" and "with this in mind". You don't talk like that to the person across the table from you. You move on to the next thing, and they follow.
"It's important to note" goes too. "It's important to note that we're closed Monday" is just "We're closed Monday."
Stop when the point has landed
AI keeps going after it's made its point. It explains something, then explains it again a different way, or adds a caveat, or answers a question nobody asked.
If a paragraph isn't adding anything new, cut it.
Watch the endings too. A last paragraph that opens with "ultimately", or every paragraph closing on a neat line that belongs on a poster. Real writing just stops once the point is made.
Check every "studies show"
"Research suggests." "Experts agree." Which study?
Sometimes there's something real behind it, and sometimes there isn't. If you can't find the source, take it out. It's your name on it.
Ask where the person is, then put yourself in
This is the last check and the most important one. Read it again and look for anything only you could have said: an opinion, a story, something that happened with a customer, the words your customers actually use.
If you can't find any, that's what needs fixing. AI will always give you the generic version, so the specific part has to come from you.
Before and after
The menu that "showcases a commitment"
The AI version: "Our new menu showcases our commitment to local ingredients."
That's probably not how you'd say it. You'd say something like: "Our new menu uses ingredients from farms down the road."
Same point. One sounds like a press release. The other sounds like the person who owns the restaurant.
Closed on Monday
"It's important to note that we're closed Monday."
Just say: "We're closed Monday."
The sentence anyone could have written
"Consistency is the key to building trust with your audience."
It's true. You've read it a hundred times. And it doesn't sound like anybody in particular said it.
So I ask: could this sentence have come from a thousand other posts? If yes, rewrite it.
The business that sounds like a commercial
"The views are breathtaking. The space is clean and modern. The service is exceptional."
When it's your own business, this is easy to miss, because it sounds like marketing. But it doesn't sound like your business.
Say something specific instead. What does the customer actually get? What's it like when they walk in the door?
The bit tacked on after the sentence ends
"Make it easier than ever to connect to your customers, highlighting the importance of a strong online presence."
The sentence was done at "customers". Then AI added a little something, and that's where a lot of the highlighting and showcasing words come from.
The fix is to end the sentence one clause earlier.
Sources
Questions people actually ask
How can you tell if something was written by AI?+
Look for several habits showing up together: overused polished words, a warm-up opener, lists of three, "it's not this, it's that", sentences all the same length and a recap at the end. The strongest sign is that there's no person in it.
Are em dashes a sign of AI writing?+
They're the best-known one, because AI uses a lot of them. Good writers use them too. If you've always written with em dashes, keep using them. If AI put them there, swap a few for a period.
Why does AI writing all sound the same?+
AI learned from a huge amount of writing, so it gives you the most typical way that kind of thing usually gets written. Everyone asking for the same thing gets the same habits back.
What words does AI overuse?+
Right now it's words like emphasizing, showcasing and highlighting, and phrases like "plays a vital role" or "a testament to". The list changes as the models get updated, so watch for the same polished words repeating.
How do I make AI writing sound more like me?+
Fix the habits in your copy, then add what only you know: your opinion, a story, what happened with a customer, the words your customers use. AI can't add that part because it doesn't know it.
Should I remove every AI pattern from my writing?+
No. If you strip out every one, you end up with a new pattern, and people will learn to recognize that too. If you really do talk in threes, keep them.
Do people trust AI-written marketing?+
Not much. In surveys, only 7% of people say AI-generated marketing makes them trust a brand more, and 31% say it makes them trust the brand less.
Can I stop AI from writing like this in the first place?+
You can cut down on it. I wrote a prompt you paste in before you ask AI to write something, so it avoids these habits from the start. It's free on my AI writing checklist page.
About the author
Hey, I'm Traci
Digital Marketing Strategist
With over 25 years in this industry I help small business owners and creators turn their online presence into profit.
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