How to Use AI for Writing Without Sounding Like AI

There's a recognisable texture to unedited AI writing. Readers notice it, even when they can't name it. If you use AI for writing, knowing these tells — and how to avoid them — matters.

The common tells

Relentless balance. Every point gets a counterpoint. Every claim gets hedged. The result reads as thorough but says very little.

Empty scaffolding. Phrases like "in today's fast-paced world," "it's important to note that," and "let's dive in" that add words without adding meaning.

Uniform rhythm. Sentences of similar length, paragraphs of similar size, an evenness that human writing rarely has.

Summary-of-a-summary vagueness. Text that describes a topic accurately without ever getting specific enough to be useful or memorable.

Over-signposting. "First, we'll examine X. Then we'll explore Y. Finally, we'll conclude with Z" — announcing structure instead of just having it.

How to avoid them

Give it your actual details. Generic input produces generic output. Real specifics — a real number, a real example, a real constraint — force specificity into the response.

Ask for a point of view. "Argue for X" produces sharper writing than "discuss X." You can soften a strong draft; you can't sharpen a mush.

Name the tells you want avoided. Explicitly: "no phrases like 'in today's world', no hedging every claim, vary sentence length."

Give it a sample of your writing. Paste something you wrote and ask it to match that voice. This works better than describing your voice in adjectives.

Cut ruthlessly afterwards. AI drafts are almost always too long. Cutting 30% usually improves them, and the cuts are usually the padding phrases.

The most important habit

Rewrite at least some of it yourself. Not because AI writing is inherently bad, but because the parts you rewrite are where your actual voice and thinking enter. A draft you've meaningfully edited reads differently from one you've merely approved.

A note on honesty

If you're publishing AI-assisted writing in a context where the source matters — academic work, journalism, anything with disclosure norms — the ethical answer is to follow those norms rather than to get better at hiding the tells. This article is about writing well, not about deception.

Practical starting point

Our prompt for turning rough notes into a draft is built around keeping your original meaning and details rather than replacing them — which is the core of writing that still sounds like you.