You can spot it. So can your readers.
There’s a texture to AI-generated text that experienced readers recognize — not because it’s wrong, but because it’s smooth in a particular, frictionless way. Certain phrases appear constantly. Sentences follow predictable rhythms. The problem isn’t the ideas. It’s that the writing has no fingerprints.
AI generates text by predicting the most probable next word given everything before it. That process produces language that is statistically common — familiar phrasing, safe transitions, moderate register. It avoids the unexpected word choice, the slightly unusual structure, the moment of personality that makes human writing identifiable. The result is technically competent but tonally flat.
You can fix this. And once you know the specific patterns to look for, it gets fast. This isn’t about rewriting everything from scratch — it’s about making targeted edits that restore the fingerprints AI removed.
Key Insight
AI writing isn’t bad — it’s average. Editing AI output is the skill of moving from average to specific. You’re not correcting errors; you’re adding the particularity that average text always lacks.
Filler openers. Sentences that begin with “It is important to note that…”, “In today’s rapidly evolving landscape…”, or “When it comes to…” These phrases carry no information. Cut them and start with the actual point.
Passive hedging. AI favors constructions like “it can be argued that,” “this may suggest,” and “there is often a tendency to.” These exist to avoid commitment. Replace them with direct assertions or remove them entirely.
Stacked adjectives. AI piles modifiers in a way that sounds thorough but reads as bloated: “a comprehensive, integrated, and strategic approach.” Pick one. The right adjective is always better than three adequate ones.
Generic transitions. “Furthermore,” “Additionally,” and “Moreover” appear constantly in AI output. They are not wrong, but they are signals of machine rhythm. Replace them with transitions that show the actual relationship between ideas: “That changes things when…” or “The problem is…”
Balanced summaries. AI loves to conclude paragraphs with a sentence that acknowledges both sides of an issue. “While there are challenges, there are also significant opportunities.” This is almost always removable. Take a position or let the point stand without the hedge.
When you receive AI output, do one pass specifically looking for these five patterns. Mark them. Then edit only those. Leave the rest. This takes five to ten minutes on most documents and produces output that reads as human-written without requiring a full rewrite. Your voice brief from Module 4 tells you what to replace the AI patterns with — the two tools work together.
Build your personal AI editing habit. You’ll identify the five AI tells in a real piece of AI output, edit them out, and create a reference list of your own substitutions.
Ask AI to write a 200-word announcement about something relevant to your work — a real announcement or a plausible hypothetical. Don’t give it your voice brief yet. Let it produce its default output.
Read the output and highlight every instance of the five AI tells: filler openers, passive hedging, stacked adjectives, generic transitions, and balanced summaries. Count how many you find.
Edit only the highlighted phrases. Don’t rewrite the whole piece — just those specific patterns. Time yourself. Most people can do this in under five minutes on a 200-word piece.
Read the edited version aloud. Does it sound like you? Note the remaining distance between the AI draft and your natural voice. These gaps are your personal editing targets.
Write your own AI tells reference list — the five to ten phrases that most reliably appear in AI output you produce and the replacements you prefer. Save it as Module 6’s output.
