Your Writing Sounds Like AI—Here Is What to Change
How do I remove the AI feel without making my writing sloppy? See the reasoning, a worked example, and a practical way to improve your draft.
How do I remove the AI feel without making my writing sloppy? See the reasoning, a worked example, and a practical way to improve your draft.
How do I remove the AI feel without making my writing sloppy?
The “AI feel” often comes from writing that is fluent but interchangeable: broad claims, symmetrical lists, predictable transitions, and no concrete point of view. The solution is not to sprinkle in typos or slang. Give the passage a specific audience, a real situation, and a claim that you are willing to defend.
Look for sentences that could appear unchanged in an article about almost anything. “Communication is essential in today's fast-paced world” tells the reader little about your subject. Replace that opening with the actual problem, such as a customer receiving three contradictory delivery updates and having to contact support to learn which one is correct.
Keep the useful structure while removing verbal scaffolding. An introduction should establish the problem; it does not need to announce that you are about to explore it. A conclusion should resolve the argument or identify a next action, rather than repeat every heading using a more ceremonial tone.
A recognizable voice emerges through choices: which detail you notice, how directly you state a judgment, and where you acknowledge uncertainty. Preserve phrases that sound natural when you speak them, but do not force a personal anecdote you never experienced. Specificity and honest judgment are more durable than any checklist of supposedly forbidden words.
Can you demonstrate a more human rewrite?
Consider this deliberately generic sentence: “Our innovative platform empowers teams to unlock productivity through seamless collaboration.” The problem is not one suspicious word; it is the absence of an observable benefit. We do not know which team, what work becomes easier, or what the product actually changes during a normal day.
A more useful rewrite is: “When a delivery date changes, the project board shows who needs to respond and keeps the decision beside the task.” This version names a trigger, a behavior, and a result. It remains a product claim that must be true, but a reader can now understand and evaluate it.
For a warmer editorial voice, you might write: “A deadline moves, three people miss the update, and Monday starts with the same argument again; the board keeps the change and the next decision in one place.” The scene adds personality without inventing a testimonial or pretending that every customer has the same experience.
Choose the version that fits the audience, then read the surrounding paragraph aloud. Remove any sentence that merely praises the sentence before it. The final check is whether a reader could explain what you mean in ordinary words and point to the detail that supports it, rather than simply recognizing that the prose sounds polished.
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