This is the reference sheet I use to review my own drafts for machine-written prose. Note that almost nothing described here is wrong in isolation; the tests in §1 are what turn a word into a finding. Moreover, today’s AI tells may not be the same as tomorrow’s. With those caveats, I present to you my “AI Tells Reference Sheet”:
1. Judgment tests
| Test |
Question |
| Density |
How often does it recur? Ignore one “robust” in 2,000 words; flag three in a paragraph. |
| Precision |
Is the word doing specific work, or inflating? |
| Voice |
Would this author plausibly have written the sentence? |
| Cadence |
Is the tell a repeated form (not a repeated word)? Count it across the whole piece; report the pattern once |
Severity: High = hard tells (contrast scaffold, “delve,” “impact” as a verb, a confirmed cadence pattern, anything in §2). Medium = defensible words in telltale clusters. Low = borderline, worth a look.
A clean text proves nothing. Only one category (§9) is conclusive on a single hit.
2. Always flag
| Pattern |
Fix |
| “actually,” “genuinely,” “honestly” (intensifiers) |
Cut |
| “carries” (weight, meaning, significance) |
Show what it does |
| “deploy” (outside software/military) |
“use,” “apply” |
| “does real work” |
Say what it accomplishes |
| “earns” (its place, its keep) |
Show the value or cut |
| “impact” as a verb |
“affect,” “change,” or name the effect |
| “is real” (“the tension is real”) |
State the consequence |
| “is worth” (noting, considering) |
Make the point |
| “matters” (“context matters”) |
Name the stakes |
| “the move” / “a move” (metaphorical) |
Name the action |
3. Vocabulary
Word tells date. The 2023–24 set is weaker evidence now; the mid-2025-onward set is quieter and current.
Current generation (2025–26)
| Pattern |
Fix |
| “quietly” (building, transforming); “deeply,” “fundamentally” |
Cut; if unannounced, say who missed it |
| “shape” (the future, how we think) |
Name what changed and why |
| “shift” (in thinking, toward) |
“change,” or the specific verb |
| “signal” (send a signal, a strong signal) |
Say what was communicated, to whom |
| “compound” (decisions, benefits) |
“add up,” or the rate |
| “land”/“lands” (the argument landed) |
“works,” “persuades” |
| “pull” (the pull of, feel the pull) |
Name the incentive or person |
| “hold” (space, the line) |
Say what the person does |
| “emphasizing,” “enhance,” “highlighting,” “showcasing” |
“stress,” “improve,” “show” |
| “the work” (do the work, trust the work) |
Name the task |
| “every time” (as emphatic tag) |
State the rule once |
| “you already have” / “you already do” |
Name the practice and how it transfers |
| “built different” / “built to last” |
Name the design choice |
| “significant,” “increasingly,” “consequences,” nominalizations |
Short word; verb form (“grew,” not “experienced growth”) |
Persistent (all eras)
| Cluster |
Examples |
Fix |
| Importance inflation |
crucial, vital, pivotal, essential, key (insight/takeaway) |
Demonstrate or downgrade |
| Hype |
game-changer, transformative, revolutionary, seamless, robust (outside engineering), elevate |
Describe the change |
| Corporate verbs |
leverage, streamline, empower, harness, unlock, foster, ensure (clustered), synergy |
“use,” or the mechanism |
| Quest framing |
journey, embark on, navigate, dive into / deep dive |
“process,” “start,” “handle” |
| Spatial filler |
in the realm/world/landscape of, “the AI landscape,” at its core |
Cut |
| Quantity filler |
myriad, a plethora of, a wide range of, comprehensive, holistic |
“many,” or the number |
| Complexity praise |
intricate, nuanced, multifaceted |
Name the complication |
| Discourse verbs |
underscore, highlight, illuminate, shed light on, explore (as filler) |
“explain,” “show,” or state the thesis |
| Padding |
serves as, stands as, that being said, to put it simply, additionally/furthermore/moreover (stacked) |
“is”; “But”; cut |
| Audience flattery |
“whether you’re a X or a Y” |
Address the reader |
| Legacy language |
watershed moment, indelible mark, lasting legacy, continues to captivate, a testament to |
Concrete events and dates |
Dated (2023–24, still catches pasted or imitated text)
delve, tapestry, intricate, meticulous, boasts, testament, vibrant, “in today’s fast-paced world.”
4. Constructions
| Pattern |
Example |
Fix |
| Contrast scaffold |
“It’s not X. It’s Y.” / “not just X, but Y” |
Assert Y; at most one per piece |
| Negative parallelism |
“No fluff. No filler. Just results.” |
One plain sentence |
| Antithesis overload |
“not only/but also,” “on the one hand/on the other,” more than twice |
Vary sentence logic |
| Neat juxtaposition |
Mirror-image clauses (“catches what the tool got wrong, not what it never saw”) |
Keep one; make the second clause add information |
| Rule-of-three padding |
“clear, concise, and compelling” |
Cut to distinct items |
| Compulsive counting |
“three reasons why,” “the four things that matter” |
Drop the count |
| Trailing participial tack-on |
“…, highlighting the importance of X” / “…, reflecting a broader trend” |
Delete, or promote to a supported sentence |
| Comma-clipped tail |
“It’s a good rule, in theory.” / “They shipped it, eventually.” |
Fold in or commit |
| Question pivot |
“The result? …” / “The catch? …” |
State the result |
| Suspense pivot |
“Here’s the thing.” / “And here’s where it gets interesting.” |
Cut |
| Engagement bait |
“Let that sink in.” / “Read that again.” |
Cut |
| Abstraction as equation |
“The tension is the point.” / “That’s the real question.” |
Ask the question or point at the thing |
| Invented concept label |
“the supervision paradox,” “workload creep” |
Replace with the claim; support it |
| Unnamed-truth claim |
“the part nobody acknowledges,” “to name it plainly” |
State the point |
| Unearned universal |
“nobody talks about this,” “everyone gets this wrong” |
Specific, defensible claim |
| False range |
“from innovation to cultural transformation” |
List the items |
| Despite-challenges formula |
“Despite criticism, X remains widely respected.” |
Specifics, or pick one half |
| Both-sidesing |
“While X has advantages, it also has drawbacks” |
Take the position the evidence supports |
| Compliment sandwich |
“Great point! That said…” |
Say what’s wrong |
| Vague authority |
“Experts argue,” “Observers have noted” |
Name the source or drop it |
| Unquoted sources |
No named person quoted anywhere in a piece that gestures at expertise |
Quote someone, or claim it in your own voice |
| Second-person validation |
“You’re not just X, you’re Y.” / “Are you ready to go deeper?” |
Cut, or praise something specific |
| Profundity closer |
“It’s less a map than a compass.” / chiastic paradox as kicker |
End on the finding |
| Hedging stack |
“It’s important to note that, in some cases, X may potentially…” |
One hedge max. Style only; never evidence of authorship (corpus evidence is contested) |
5. Cadence and structure
Invisible sentence by sentence. Read structural positions across the whole piece and count.
| Pattern |
What to count |
Fix |
| Short emphatic topic sentences |
Paragraph openers like “Speed wins.” / “It worked.”; one-sentence dramatic paragraphs. Two or more = High |
Keep the strongest; vary the rest (fold, demote, let substance lead) |
| Uniform paragraph rhythm |
Every paragraph 3–4 mid-length sentences |
Vary deliberately |
| Fluff sandwich |
Generality / content / restated generality |
Keep the middle sentence |
| Paragraph-final restatement |
“Ultimately, …” / “In short, …” |
Cut |
| Anaphora abuse |
“It’s about X. It’s about Y. It’s about Z.” |
Keep one; recast the rest |
| Synonym cycling |
tool → platform → solution → offering |
Reuse the right term |
| Dead metaphor |
One metaphor revisited in every section |
Keep the first use; go literal after |
| Announce-then-answer |
“This piece will examine…” / “Having established X, …” |
Start with the first claim |
| Signposting |
“more on that below,” “as we’ll see” |
Delete |
| Tie-back |
“as mentioned above,” callback to the intro |
Restate the substance in a clause or delete |
| Stakeless competence |
No names, numbers, dates, tools, prices; flawless grammar in casual register |
Author supplies detail |
6. Punctuation
| Signal |
Detail |
Fix |
| Em-dash overuse |
Readers assume AI on sight (the “ChatGPT hyphen”), so it costs credibility regardless of author. As authorship evidence it has collapsed: in the Economist’s 2026 corpus only Claude out-dashed humans; ChatGPT used fewer; GPT-5.1 suppresses them by instruction |
Comma, semicolon, colon, or new sentence. Never space an em dash |
| Punctuation scarcity |
Fewer commas and semicolons than human prose, almost no parentheses; long compounds joined by “and.” Economist: “and” is the single most overused word across all four models; thin punctuation beats any word as an indicator |
Break compounds; subordinate the subordinate clause |
| Contrast starvation |
Opposing clauses joined by “;”, “and,” or “while,” almost never a coordinating “but.” Zero or one “but” in a long piece is the signal |
Write “, but” where the logic turns |
7. Formatting
| Pattern |
Fix |
| Bullet bloat (prose chopped into fragments with bolded lead-ins) |
Recombine into prose; bullets only for true lists |
| Bold-itis (mid-sentence emphasis bolding) |
Unbold; rewrite for emphasis |
| Colon-subtitle headers (“Precision: Why Word Choice Matters”) |
Plain descriptive headings |
| Title Case headings; Wh-word headings (“What This Means,” “Why It Matters”) |
Sentence case; name the content |
| Emoji decoration (🚀 bullets, ✅/❌ lists, emoji-capped headers) |
Delete |
| Unicode decoration (→, box-drawing, decorative bullets) |
Words for relationships; ordinary list markup |
8. Openers and closers
| Pattern |
Fix |
| “In today’s fast-paced world / digital age / ever-evolving landscape” |
Start with the subject |
| “Let’s dive in” / “Let’s unpack this” / “Let’s explore” |
Begin |
| “It’s important to note that” / “It’s worth noting that” |
State the point |
| “Keep in mind that” / “Remember that” |
Cut |
| “At the end of the day” |
Cut or state the conclusion |
| “In conclusion,” / “In summary,” (short pieces) |
End on the last point |
| “By following these steps, you can…” |
Cut |
| “…and that’s exactly the point” / “…and that’s okay” |
Cut |
| “I’m excited / honored / thrilled to announce” |
State the news |
| “I hope this email finds you well” |
Open with the reason |
| “I hope this helps” / “Great question” / “Would you like me to…?” (in a deliverable) |
Cut; assistant-voice leakage |
9. Paste-through artifacts (conclusive)
Exact strings no human types. One hit settles authorship. Current as of August 2026; a miss tells you nothing.
| Artifact |
Source |
contentReference, oaicite, oai_citation, turn0search0, attributableIndex |
ChatGPT |
[cite: 1], [span_1](start_span) |
Gemini |
grok_card, grok_render_citation_card_json |
Grok |
| Stray lenticular brackets, dagger symbols |
DeepSeek |
attached_file, ppl-ai-file-upload |
Perplexity |
:::writing |
Unclassified |
utm_source= on pasted links |
Any model with web search |
10. Model tendencies (August 2026, Economist corpus)
| Model |
Tendency |
| Gemini, Claude |
Polysyllables, rare words, nominalizations |
| ChatGPT, Claude |
Most “not X but Y” scaffolds and rule-of-three triplets per 1,000 sentences |
| Claude |
Only model to out-dash human writers |
| ChatGPT |
Markedly fewer em dashes than humans |
| Grok |
“causal,” “empirical,” “correlate”; inverts negative parallelism into “X rather than Y” |
11. Review procedure
- Grep §9 strings first.
- Grep §2, §3, §8 as candidates; judge each on §1 tests.
- Close read for §4 constructions, paragraph by paragraph.
- Second read for §5–6: paragraph openers as a set, “but” count, “and”-chained compounds.
- Sort findings High / Medium / Low; report cadence patterns once, with instances listed.
- Run your own replacement text against the same tables.