Spot the Tell: 8 Signs AI Wrote That Copy

By now, most of us have started spotting the obvious signs of AI-written content. And once you notice them, they’re hard to ignore.

The overuse of em dashes—usually coupled with random bolding of significant words and phrases. Bullet lists that try to sound sharp but don’t quite land.

Recently, I asked ChatGPT to reflect on this with a tailored prompt: “Based on how I write, what are the lesser-known giveaways that something was written by AI?”

The response was surprisingly accurate. It still needed a few edits, but it got close.

Here’s what it surfaced:

1. Machine-made rhythm: AI loves a rigid cadence. Short sentence. Another one. Then again. It’s not always wrong, but when it’s the rule rather than the exception, the piece starts to feel synthetic. Strong human writing varies the tempo. It stretches when ideas need space, tightens when there’s tension and occasionally holds its breath. AI on the other hand moves at a fixed pace - predictable, but not quite human.
   

2. The all-too-perfect trio: Humans do love things in threes. It’s familiar. It flows. It feels complete. (See what I did there?) But when every value prop, CTA or slogan (look - three of them!) follows a neat triple formula, the copy starts sounding artificial. “Fast. Simple. Scalable.” “Bold. Bright. Better.” If it fits on a T-shirt but not in a strategy meeting, it’s probably filler.
   

3. Explaining the obvious: I’m all for plain English. But AI can take it too far, repeating the same point three different ways. It assumes your reader is confused - and in doing so, it underestimates them. My preferred approach is to make your point as clearly as possible and let it land, then move on. If your idea can't be distilled to ensure it lands the first time, it's probably too complicated for your audience to digest. Keep working on it.
   

4. Clean but forgettable: AI is great at structure, but not so great at spark - that moment of recognition or emotional pull. For that, you still need a human touch. Without it, you get smooth paragraphs that read fine but leave no impression. The writing behaves, but it doesn’t connect.
   

5. Vague-as-air strategy speak: “Empowering innovation.” “Fostering collaboration.” “Delivering business outcomes." These sound impressive at a glance, but up close, they’re hollow. If you can’t picture what it looks like in action, it’s not helping the reader.
   

6. Shaky tone control: AI can hold a tone for a paragraph or two. Over a full article, however, it usually drifts - especially without tight prompt control and responsible human oversight. What starts off crisp might wander into something oddly casual or strangely stiff. A human editor still needs to keep the voice steady.
   

7. Same-old comparisons: “Not just faster. Smarter.” “More than a platform—it’s a movement.” (Double points for getting the comparison and the em dash in one.) These are popping up everywhere. And while humans are guilty of this too, AI tends to rely on them a lot. Use with caution.
   

8. Poster-worthy parting lines: “In a world where change is the only constant, one thing remains: the power of possibility." If your last line could sit on a wellness mug, rewrite it. Great endings don’t need bows, they just need enough weight to land.
   

Let’s be clear: AI drafts are a starting point. They’re functional, but they lack the texture and timing that come from lived experience. That final layer - the part that makes writing feel real - still belongs to a human.

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This version is adapted from an article originally published on LinkedIn, Beyond the Em Dash, on April 21 2025 and has been rewritten and republished here with permission.