With the recent explosion of AI writing tools, it’s becoming increasingly common to encounter AI-generated content. These tools often make confident claims and can mislead people about certain products or services. Learning how to spot AI writing will be a necessary skill in the future.
One way to identify AI writing is to look for a lack of personality and voice. Another is to check for a lack of consistency in the writing tone and style.
Lack of personality and voice
There’s a lot of concern about AI writing and the potential for it to replace writers. In the academic world, this seems to be especially concerning but it can affect any industry.
One way to identify AI writing is by examining the style and tone of the content. Look for phrases and sentence structures that are overly repetitive or clunky. AI language models tend to use common phrases and idioms more frequently than humans and often lack creativity in their writing. Find out more at AI content recognition.
Another important factor to consider is the author’s background. If they have no traceable history, it’s likely that the article was written by an AI writer.
AI is being used to churn out content across the internet and some users may not realize that they’re reading an article that was written by an AI. You can identify AI writing using AI detection tools or manually analyzing the content. Both methods are effective but a combination is best.
Lack of variation in sentence structure
AI writing lacks vital human elements like metaphors, analogies, cultural context, and humor. It also lacks empathy and personal insight. Look for these elements when assessing the content.
AI writers also lack variation in sentence structure, as their language models are trained to produce predictable sentences with conventional structures. Look for this in the text: if all sentences have the same length and follow a predictable pattern, the text is probably AI-generated.
Another indicator of AI writing is outdated information. Check the dates of referenced studies, statistics, and news to determine whether the information is relevant today. For example, if an article states that the Apple Car’s launch date was originally pushed back to 2026 but was later canceled, this outdated information indicates the AI writer didn’t update its knowledge base in real-time.
Additionally, AI writing may use overused words that would pass a grammar check but lack context and personality. There is a Reddit thread dedicated to identifying such overused words in AI writing.
Lack of creativity
AI is a wonderful tool to have at our disposal, but it also presents some challenges. Some people may use it irresponsibly to spread false information or manipulate the public. As such, it’s important to know how to spot AI writing and avoid it.
One way to identify AI writing is to check for repetitive phrases and ideas. A piece of content generated by an AI writer will likely have a lot of repetition, with keywords being repeated multiple times throughout the article. For example, this article contains the word “AI” 16 times, which is well over the recommended number of times according to a popular SEO plugin.
Another way to detect AI writing is to look for inconsistencies or misrepresentations. AI writers often gloss over details and lack the depth of knowledge that comes with first-hand experience. For example, this article claims that the best temperature for sleep is 65 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit, but this recommendation is contradicted by a reputable medical resource.
Lack of relevance to search queries
Several tools exist that can automatically determine whether or not a piece of content was written by an AI. Although these tools can provide a good indication of whether or not a piece of writing was generated by an AI, they can also miss a variety of important signs. Therefore, it’s important to use them in conjunction with other methods.
One of the most common signs that a piece of writing is AI-generated is its lack of relevance to search queries. This is because AI writing often doesn’t understand the intent of a search query, which can make it difficult to create relevant content.
Additionally, AI-generated writing tends to rely on secondhand information and does not convey personal experiences or opinions. Look for phrases like “the”, “it” or “are” in the text, as these are words that AI language models tend to overuse. Also, check to see if the content does not contain concrete examples or relatable anecdotes.