Identify the AI red flags and avoid them

Let’s see what’s the problem here

Hi! I’m Nat, the copywriter at LowCode agency, and I put this all together to illustrate how AI text is making all of us use the same tone, phrases, and words and how widespread this phenomenon is. I found all the examples I’ll share in a scroll through my LinkedIn feed that took less than 20 minutes. That's how plain everyone's posts are coming up. I want to help you identify those common places and avoid them.

Why do we care? Some readers are aware of this and find it annoying. That can hurt your reputation if it’s a personal post or the reputation of the brand you're writing on behalf of. Other readers unconsciously learned to skip through the noise of AI blurbs and tune out, so you’ll be losing engagement. Meanwhile, the readers who are unaware today will probably catch up soon.

The tools as far as they go today are always repeating the same structures. I don't know what percentage of users and readers are aware of this, but there are going to be more and more. How long will it take for it to happen (if it is not already happening) that most people, upon noticing something 100% AI-generated, will have a negative reaction, similar to receiving spam?

Let’s see what we can do

We can use AI, it can help come up with words faster, but we can't take the first result and say it's good enough. I know how much it can sound like exactly what you wanted to say, but we need to bring back the human touch. Those results have to be edited so you don't sound completely like, well, a robot. 

Don't forget that AI will give you the most standard way of saying whatever you're trying to say. It's the statistically most common way of putting one word after another. This has some repercussions on our minds as readers.

• The bad news is that it's quite boring and has everyone using the same tone and wording. It’s making clichés even more cliché. And, as I told you, makes the reader “tune out”.

• The neutral news is that the results are so neutral that it can seem like they always hit the mark. It sounds like the “right way“ of saying stuff. It’s almost comfortable and satisfactory. It seems so neutral and simple that it feels difficult to out-perform.

• The good news is that it's quite easy to beat it. Anything you come up with, at this point, will be more valuable and nicer to read as long as you make sure it's grammatically correct. Checking grammar is a very good use for AI by the way. It’s also good if you’re not sure if a native English speaker would use a particular expression, it will give you hints. 

As I was saying, you don’t have to ditch AI and work fully from scratch, especially if the blank page feels intimidating (we all know that feeling). But when we want to engage the readers and persuade them, AI has a limited amount of "tricks" and it's noticeable how all brands are falling in the same common places. Have you noticed that AI keeps inventing analogies that start with “imagine”?

What we need is to have a very critical eye. Even if you’re in a hurry, just a few tweaks will help you avoid the overall “feel” of AI talk. Sometimes it can be helpful to ask AI to give you “options” and then you can use that to brainstorm or mix and match.

Let’s cut back on these

Here is my list of things to avoid, or try to use very little. It isn't thorough. Of course, you can still use them now and then, but stay aware. You have the examples taken from my feed, color-coded, to illustrate why I’m targeting these words and phrases.

These words and phrases, over and over again:

Hurdle

Navigate

Embrace

Elevate

Revolutionize

Transformative

Comprehensive 

Thrilled

Myriad

Intricate

Leverage

Resonate

Tackle

Journey

Dive

Strive

Embark

Daunting

Entail

Intricacies

Pitfall 

Unlock

Seamless

Excited

Streamline

Dynamic

Unveil

Harnessing

Underscore

Landscape

Strive

Compelling

Game-changer

"Truly unique"

"Picture this:"

“We've all been there…”

“A maze of…”

■ Last sentence of a paragraph with some clarifying, starting with "By" or "This" 

■ Sentences starting with "As"

■ "Whether you blablabla or blablabla, ..." / "From bla to bla and blabla, ..." / "not only... but also..."

■ Enumerations that somehow always have THREE things: x, x, and x. (I know it sounds weird but check example 7)

■ Title Case Used Everywhere, Even for Bulleted Lists on a Short Post

■ Too many or unnecessary "-ing"

1) 2)

3) 4)

5) 6)

7)

Let’s laugh about it

Notice the "isn't just a trend" in examples 3 and 6? I laughed at that one, and it inspired this search full of uninspired posts: 

Google searches on site: LinkedIn - isn't just a trend

I'm very fond of the "digital landscape" search, too. Ah, yeah, refreshing: 

Google searches on site: LinkedIn - “digital landscape”

Those results alone are a master class on what not to do.

Use these instructions in your prompt: