There is a specific type of AI writing that everybody knows. I don’t even need to explain it. IYKYK.
Every model learned to write from the same internet, so every model reaches for the same words. This is actually getting worse in some aspects since these same models are then being trained on this writing again and again. It’s a pretty vicious cycle.
“It’s not just X, it’s Y.” Readers have seen those moves ten thousand times, and the moment one shows up, many of them close the page. You know what’s worse? That page might even contain incredible insights, but the writer could never get around the AI tells.
One way you can start fighting this is by keeping a file that bans all of it. I pulled hundreds of words, phrases, and sentence patterns that readers actually complain about. I looked across several large studies and real editor complaints, including my own experience throughout the past couple years.
Every piece I publish now includes this as one of my many gates. I’m giving you that file.
Before we get into it: this publication grows on shares.
If you know someone whose writing keeps getting called AI, send them this one. You don’t know how much that’ll help them.
The file is plain text, organized so your AI can actually follow it and it includes:
The infamous words. Delve, tapestry, robust, seamless, pivotal, “dive into.” The ones with studies and headlines behind them.
The stock phrases. “In today’s fast-paced world.” “It’s important to note.” “That being said.” The openers, hedges, and transitions no human types.
The sentence patterns. The structures readers now spot instantly, starting with the single most recognized AI tell there is: “It’s not just X, it’s Y.”
The dead giveaways. “As an AI language model.” Chatbot leakage that ends careers. You search for these before anything ships, every time.
The false positives. The section most lists don’t have: the human things (your pet words, your rough edges, real lists, clean formal prose) that you should never let anyone edit out of you.
Save this file in whatever you write with. Add it to your project files in Claude or ChatGPT, drop it in the folder you work out of with Claude Code or Codex, paste it into your instructions, or include it in any skill you build. Then tell your model one thing: check every draft against this file before showing me anything.
Your next draft comes back without the vocabulary everybody is sick of.
Download the AI-tells file here:
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