AI writing detection
Your readers already know what AI prose looks like
"Delve," "robust," "comprehensive." These appear 5 to 20x more in machine text than human writing.
Tier 1 words: replace on sight
| AI word | Replace with |
|---|---|
| delve / delve into | explore, dig into, look at |
| landscape (metaphor) | field, space, industry |
| robust | strong, reliable, solid |
| comprehensive | thorough, complete, full |
| leverage (verb) | use |
| seamless / seamlessly | smooth, easy, without friction |
| cutting-edge | latest, newest, advanced |
| pivotal | important, key, critical |
| utilize / utilise | use |
| holistic | complete, full, whole |
| actionable | practical, useful, concrete |
| impactful | effective, significant |
| empower | let, help, enable |
| streamline | simplify, speed up |
| harness | use |
| foster | build, encourage, support |
| in order to | to |
| due to the fact that | because |
| serve as | is |
| learnings | lessons, findings, takeaways |
| best practices | what works, proven methods |
| synergy | (describe the combined effect) |
| thought leadership | expertise |
| deep dive | look at, examine, explore |
| game-changer | (describe what changed) |
One is fine. Two in the same paragraph signals a pattern.
Structural patterns
| Pattern | What to do |
|---|---|
| Em dash overuse | Hard cap: zero. Use a comma or period. |
| Bold overuse | Max one bolded phrase per section. |
| Rule of Three | AI always lists three items. Sometimes two or seven is right. |
| Uniform paragraph length | Vary deliberately. Mix one-sentence and multi-sentence paragraphs. |
| Synonym cycling | "Developers... engineers... practitioners... builders" in one paragraph. Pick one word. |
| "It's not X, it's Y" | Once is fine. AI repeats it every other paragraph. |
| Copula avoidance | AI writes "serves as," "features," "boasts" instead of "is" and "has." Default to "is." |
Chatbot artifacts: P0 credibility killers
| Artifact | Example |
|---|---|
| Sycophantic openers | "Great question!" / "Excellent point!" |
| Helpful-assistant closers | "I hope this helps!" / "Feel free to reach out!" |
| "Let's + verb" transitions | "Let's dive in!" Start with the point. |
| Chain-of-thought leakage | "Breaking this down..." State the conclusion. |
| Cutoff disclaimers | "As of my last update..." Never in published copy. |
The severity ladder
| Severity | What it catches |
|---|---|
| P0: credibility killers | Chatbot artifacts, vague attributions, significance inflation |
| P1: obvious AI smell | Tier 1 words, "Let's" transitions, bold overuse |
| P2: polish | Uniform paragraph length, copula avoidance, synonym cycling |