Words that make you sound like AI

The single most over-fitted verb in machine-generated prose. Real people almost never say "delve" out loud, and its frequency in published text jumped off a cliff in 2023.

Use "dig into", "look at", "get into", or just delete the framing and make the point.

delvedelvesdelvingdeep divedeep-divedive deepdive intodiving intolet's dive inlets dive in

Grand metaphor dropped on an ordinary subject. A pricing page is not a tapestry. This is the register a model reaches for when it has nothing specific to say.

Cut the metaphor and state the literal thing. If the sentence dies without it, the sentence had no content.

tapestryrich tapestrybeaconbeacon ofsymphonya testament tostands as a testamenttreasure troveembark on a journeyembark onrealmin the realm ofthe realm ofkaleidoscopecruciblelabyrinth of

Pure throat-clearing. It establishes no fact, names no subject, and could open an article about literally any topic.

Delete the entire clause. Start at the first sentence that says something only your piece could say.

in today's fast-pacedin a fast-pacedin today's digital agein today's worldin today's businessin the modern erain an increasinglyin our increasinglyin today's competitivenow more than ever

A filler adjective that asserts change without describing any. Everything is evolving. This tells the reader nothing.

Name what actually changed and when, or drop the modifier.

ever-evolvingever evolvingever-changingever changingrapidly evolvingconstantly evolvingrapidly changing

Spatial metaphor standing in for a real noun. "The marketing landscape" is just "marketing" wearing a hat.

Delete the metaphor. "The competitive landscape" becomes "competitors".

landscapethe landscape ofin the world ofthe world ofin the sphere ofin the arena ofecosystem

If it is worth noting, note it. This construction spends a full clause announcing that a fact is coming instead of delivering the fact.

Delete the phrase and keep the sentence that follows it.

it's worth notingit is worth notingit's worth mentioningit is worth mentioningit's important to noteit is important to noteit's important to considerit is important to considerit should be notedit bears mentioningit's crucial to understandit is crucial to understand

Connective tissue with no logical work to do. Models emit these to signal structure they have not actually built. "Furthermore" in particular is near-extinct in natural speech.

Delete it. If the next sentence genuinely reverses the previous one, "but" does the job.

furthermoremoreoveradditionallyin conclusionto summarizein summarythat being saidthat saidhere's the thingthe reality iswhat's morein essenceultimatelynotablyimportantlyconsequentlythusto that endwith that in mindall in all

Latinate verbs chosen over plain ones. Models over-select these because they appear disproportionately in the corporate text they were trained on.

leverage to use. utilize to use. facilitate to help or run. foster to build or encourage. empower to let or enable.

leverageleveragingleveragesutilizeutilizingutilizesutilizationfacilitatefacilitatesfacilitatingfosterfostersfosteringharnessharnessingempowerempowersempoweringstreamlinestreamlinesstreamliningspearheadideateoperationalizeincentivizesynergize

Importance asserted rather than demonstrated. These words are load-bearing nowhere: strike any one of them and the sentence keeps its meaning.

Delete it, or replace it with the specific quality you mean. "Robust error handling" becomes "retries three times, then logs and alerts".

robustcomprehensivecrucialvitalpivotalparamountseamlessholisticmultifacetednuancedintricateprofoundunparalleledunwaveringcutting-edgecutting edgestate-of-the-artstate of the artinnovativedynamicversatiletransformativegroundbreakingrevolutionaryinvaluablemeticulousmeticulouslyunprecedentedremarkable

Language from a pitch deck rather than a description of reality. Promises magnitude, supplies none.

Replace with the measurable outcome. "Supercharge your workflow" becomes "cuts the review step from two days to one".

revolutionizerevolutionizingunlock theunlock yourunlock the potentialunleashunleashingelevate yourelevate thesuperchargeturbochargelevel upto the next levelpave the waypaving the wayusher inat the forefrontgame-changergame changergame-changing

Two hedges doing one hedge's job. "Could potentially" is "could". The doubling is a model avoiding commitment rather than expressing genuine uncertainty.

Keep one hedge or none. State the claim and let the reader judge it.

could potentiallymay potentiallymight potentiallyit could be arguedone could argueone might argueone might saysome would saysome might sayit seems thatit appears thatto some extentin many waysmore often than notgenerally speakingfor the most part

A vague gesture at volume where a number belongs.

Use the actual count. "A myriad of options" becomes "nine options".

plethoraa plethora ofmyriada myriad ofa wealth ofa host ofan array ofa vast arraya wide range ofcountlessnumerous

A sentence about the sentence you are about to read. Ceremony instead of content.

Cut it and open with the actual point.

rest assuredlook no furtherbuckle upwithout further adoneedless to saylet that sink inthe bottom line islet's face itmake no mistake

Meta-commentary about significance rather than the substance itself. The reader wanted the finding, not a note that the finding is significant.

State the thing directly. "This underscores the importance of testing" becomes "so test it".

shed light onsheds light onunderscoreunderscoresunderscoringhighlights the importanceunderscores the importanceplays a crucial roleplays a vital roleplays a key roleserves as astands asboastsdelivers onspeaks volumes

Motion verb applied to an abstraction. Nobody navigates a complexity, they just deal with a specific hard thing.

Name the specific hard thing and what you do about it.

navigate the complexitiesnavigating the complexitiesnavigate the challengesnavigate thenavigating thethe complexities of

Implies human care while being the exact phrasing a model reaches for. The irony is doing heavy lifting here.

Say who chose it and on what basis, or drop the word.

curatedcarefully curatedhandpickedhand-pickedbespoketailored to your needsthoughtfully designedlovingly craftedcrafted

Vocabulary imported from meetings nobody enjoyed.

Say the plain version. "Align with" becomes "match" or "agree with".

resonateresonates withresonatedalign withalignmentsynergytouch basecircle backmove the needlelow-hanging fruitboil the oceandouble-click onunpack that

Abstract plural nouns standing in for the actual product or action.

Name the thing. "Our solutions" becomes "our two apps".

solutionsofferingscapabilitiesverticalstouchpointslearningsdeliverables

“It's not just a chair. It's a statement.”

The "It is not X. It is Y." pivot. This is the most reliable structural fingerprint of generated prose. It manufactures the feeling of insight by setting up a straw version of the point and then knocking it down, without adding a single fact.

State Y directly and delete the X half entirely. If Y cannot stand alone, there was no insight.

“This isn't a product update. This is a new way of working.”

Same reframe pivot, "This is not X, this is Y" wording. Adds emphasis, adds no information.

Keep the second half. Delete the setup.

“We won, not because we were lucky, but because we prepared.”

A causal version of the same reframe. Two clauses to deliver one reason.

Give the actual reason once.

“No fluff. No filler. Just results.”

Staccato triple negation into a punchline. Reads like ad copy generated for a product that does not exist yet.

Write one sentence describing what it does.

“It isn't about the money, it's about respect.”

Reframe in its most self-satisfied form. Almost always precedes a platitude.

Delete the whole construction and make a concrete claim.

“Have you ever wondered why your team keeps missing deadlines?”

Opens by asking the reader a question instead of telling them something. The house style of content farms, and the first thing a model produces when told to write an introduction.

Open with your most specific claim. Trust that it is interesting.

“At its core, leadership is about trust.”

Announces that an essential truth follows. What follows is generally a restatement of the paragraph above.

Delete the phrase. Keep the claim only if it is new.

“As an AI language model, I don't have personal opinions.”

Not a stylistic tell. This is the model talking about itself, left in the text unedited.

Delete it. Then read the rest of the document, because it was probably not read at all.

“Certainly! Here's a revised version of your email.”

The leftover reply preamble from a chat interface. Somebody pasted and did not proofread.

Delete the entire first line.

“Not just faster, but smarter.”

The compressed reframe. Common in human writing too, but heavily over-produced by models.

Often fine in moderation. If it appears more than once in a page, cut all but the strongest.

“We're more than just a bakery.”

Sets up a comparison the sentence never resolves.

Describe what it is. Drop the comparison.

“It not only saves time but also reduces errors.”

A formal correlative pair that models reach for constantly and speakers essentially never use.

Split into two sentences, or use "and".

“The result? A forty percent lift in engagement.”

A fake question used as a paragraph hinge. Punchy the first time, mechanical by the third.

Replace with a normal sentence, or just start the next sentence.

“Let's break it down.”

Narrating the structure of the piece instead of writing the piece.

Delete it and start the explanation.

“Whether you're a solo founder or running a global team...”

Audience-hedging so the text applies to everybody, which means it was written for nobody.

Pick the single reader you are writing for and address them.

“🚀 Ship faster”

Decorative emoji leading a list item. A default habit of chat models formatting for readability.

Remove it. A dash is enough.

“From onboarding to offboarding, we handle the whole lifecycle.”

A range used to imply comprehensiveness without committing to specifics.

Name the two or three cases you actually mean.

“The plan was simple — until it wasn't.”

Plenty of good writers use em dashes, so this alone proves nothing. What is suspicious is the rate: generated text uses them two to five times more often than human text, and almost always for emphasis rather than interruption.

Most can become a comma, a colon, or a full stop. Keep the ones that mark a genuine interruption.

“**Scalability**: the system grows with you.”

Every list item opening with a bolded label and a colon. Structurally tidy in a way humans rarely sustain.

Fine occasionally. If every bullet does it, rewrite a few as plain sentences.

Sentence rhythm

Standard deviation of sentence length, in words.

The strongest single signal on this page, and the hardest to fake. People write a four-word sentence, then a thirty-word one, then something in between, because they are thinking while they type. Generated text settles into a narrow band and stays there. A standard deviation under about four words across a decent sample is a loud result.

Contractions

Contractions per hundred words.

Models drift formal by default, and formal means "do not" instead of "don't". Important caveat: plenty of legitimate registers avoid contractions entirely, so if you are checking a legal filing or an academic paper, ignore this row. In anything conversational, zero contractions is telling.

Trailing summaries

Paragraphs whose final sentence mostly recycles words already used in that paragraph.

Models are trained to sound complete, so they close paragraphs by restating them. The tell is a last sentence that introduces no new content words. Delete those sentences and nothing is lost, which is the proof they were never needed.

Parallel openers

Runs of three or more consecutive sentences or bullets starting with the same word.

Anaphora is a real rhetorical device when it is chosen. It is something else when it happens because the generator found a groove and stayed in it. Three in a row is the threshold where intent stops being the likely explanation.

Lexical diversity

Moving-average type-token ratio, fifty-word window.

Measures how much the vocabulary repeats within short stretches, and unlike a raw ratio it is not distorted by document length. Generated text orbits a small set of nouns, because a model predicting the most probable next word will often land on a word it already used.

Average sentence

Mean sentence length in words.

Weak on its own, which is why it is worth few points. Models tend to settle between seventeen and twenty-four words. It matters mainly as confirmation when the rhythm measure has already fired.

-ly adverbs

Adverbs per hundred words.

Adverbs let a sentence sound precise without committing to a stronger verb. "Significantly improved" instead of "doubled". Heavy adverb load usually means the writing is hedging about magnitude.

Rule of three

Density of "X, Y, and Z" constructions.

Triads feel rhetorically finished, so models overproduce them. The giveaway is the third item: it is often a near-synonym of the second, added for rhythm rather than meaning.