AI vs. Human Writing – can you spot the difference?

Do you think you can tell if something was written by AI? You might be surprised to know that despite AI being supposed to be light years ahead, most sites, such as Chat GPT, have writing quirks.

Here are five dead giveaways:

• The em dash obsession — AI loves a good em dash (—) and sprinkles them everywhere, not once or twice in a few hundred words instead multiple in every paragraph. Real people – we do but not as often [and did you know there is more than one form of dash?]
• Cliché central: ‘now more than ever’ [a phrase we have come to loathe], ‘moreover’, ‘game-changer’, ‘at the end of the day’ AND ‘in today’s fast-paced world’ are all phrases that AI generated text leans on [and we wondered why we were starting the see these phrases reappearing!]. Real people – we mix it up.
• Oxford comma overload AI religiously uses the Oxford comma and also sprinkles them everywhere, while UK English speakers often leave it out.
• Too perfect? Too formal: AI avoids contractions [do not instead of don’t], making it sound stiff. Real people – we are more likely to write the way we talk.
• US vs. UK English: AI defaults to US spelling [realize, favor, color], loves double quotes “ ”, and overuses exclamation marks!!
  Next time you’re reading something, see if you can spot the AI fingerprints.

What is a key giveaway when you ask an AI tool to list or create 10 things? 8 will be solid, and then …it starts repeating itself. The same answer, just reworded. A bit like a psychometric test, where the same question is asked five different ways to check if you’re paying attention. AI does the same thing, just dressed up differently.

Here are the top 5 ways AI writing gives itself away:

• Rewording, not rethinking: AI often cycles through the same ideas, just phrased differently—like a personality test rewording the same question.
• The ‘List Fatigue’ effect: AI-generated lists start strong but taper off into vague or repetitive points.
• Overly symmetrical sentences: AI loves balance—too much. As people we mix it up and AI tends to mirror structures predictably.
• Echoing without insight: AI pieces together what already exists, but doesn’t generate new thought, just reassembled patterns.
• Flawless… to a fault: AI writing can feel too polished, too structured and lacking in quirks, contradictions, and personality that makes human writing engaging. Do you see a pattern? AI isn’t thinking – most of the time it’s just reshuffling the deck.

And.. the time is fast approaching where if you use it and don’t declare it in your writing, be prepared to be called out for it.