Yes, It Sounds Like AI Wrote It
I’ll only say it once: AI-generated content is everywhere.
And people are learning to spot it.
Consumers are tired of the same bland, “AI slop” on their feeds.
AI helps with productivity (even on your best day, you can’t write an entire report in 30 seconds).
But we run into issues when we rely solely on AI to do our work for us.
That’s because AI isn’t original.
It doesn’t have your unique thoughts and experiences, nor does it portray your personality as original work would.
Today we’re learning how to treat AI as our intern (not our CEO) to foster creativity and increase productivity without losing your unique voice.
5 Ways to Edit AI-Generated Content to Sound More Human
AI Is Your Intern
Let’s keep running with the intern analogy.
If you hired an intern, you wouldn’t ask them to create a PowerPoint for your meeting, assume the PowerPoint is branded accurately without any review, and pass it along.
You’d oversee the intern’s work—make sure the PowerPoint is on brand, that the information on the slides is correct, and that it represents you.
If you hired a human intern, you wouldn’t ask them to build a presentation for a high-stakes meeting, trust that it’s flawless without looking at it, and hand it straight to the client.
(because that’s a recipe for disaster)
Instead you would oversee their work. You’d make sure the design is correct, the data is accurate, and the final product represents your company well.
So, if we would never let an intern’s work go unreviewed, why are we giving AI a free pass?
How to Edit AI-Generated Content
Once you have your AI-generated content, you need to add in the soul.
While it can be tough to nail down “AI tells,” there are some ways to improve AI-generated content to add in your human touch:
1. Limit Passive Voice
AI loves the passive voice (e.g., “The budget was created”). Change these to active, empowered sentences (e.g., “I created the budget”) to add agency back into your words.
2. Vary Sentence Structure
AI often generates sentences of nearly identical length, which ends up creating a monotonous drone where readers will get bored and space out. The best way to combat this is to read the writing out loud (yes, out loud, not in your head). This will help you feel the rhythm and identify where to make changes to sentence length.
3. Remove the Clichés
Watch for AI-standard transitions or words like “In today’s fast-paced world,” “delve,” or “unlock your potential.” Swap these for specific, intentional language that reflects your purpose and tone.
4. Share Your Stories
For every three paragraphs of content provided by AI, add in one personal story. Mentioning a specific moment adds the human nuance and confirms you had a hand in the content creation process.
5. Fact-Check the Work
Never take AI-generated content at face value on the first draft. Manually verify every fact, statistic, claim, etc. to protect against hallucinations and inaccurate data. Nothing’s worse than making an incorrect claim.
Reclaim your Voice
AI is here to save you time and trouble—not to do all your work for you.
Using AI strategically ensures you can maintain high productivity levels without blending into the sea of sameness.
So the cliche is true: keep the human in the loop.
Leave a Reply