How to Spot AI Writing and Avoid The Pitfalls

We’re all sick of talking about it, right? AI as a great debate swings back and forth in our work, in our hobbies and in our downtime. It’s no secret that AI-generated writing is everywhere right now. Scroll through LinkedIn, browse a few blogs, or check your inbox - you’ll start to notice a certain sameness. Writing that’s smooth, polite, well-structured… but somehow flat and utterly bland.

That’s the giveaway.

Who cares? Well, we do. Because it’s that blah factor that most writers and readers alike are seeking to avoid, especially when it comes to writing that’s asking you to part with your cash. So while AI writing tools have come a long way, they still leave clues. And once you know what to look for, you can spot an AI-written piece from a mile away. So you can feel confident in who’s really telling you what products you need, or compiling those slightly wonky recipes for your next big family feast.

It Sounds Polished, but Soulless

AI is designed to constantly refine what it does, so it loves obsessive balance and structure. Every rule of grammar and syntax is followed to the letter, sentences are uniformly accurate and grammar mistakes are nowhere to be seen. But you can never quite shake the feeling that something’s missing.

There’s no real voice, personality or spark. It’s often the human imperfection that makes writing feel alive, whether those are genuine mistakes or simply the choice that a writer makes to break the rules. AI writing can sometimes feel like the literary equivalent of a stock photo - clean and competent, but it doesn’t make you feel anything.

Try to picture the person who wrote what you’re reading. Who are they? If you can’t, that’s your first red flag.

It Repeats Itself. It Repeats Itself A Lot. 

AI has a habit of saying the same thing three different ways. It’s like filling up word counts in essay questions during your exams at school. The same point, rehashed in a new set of words - nothing new added.

This happens because AI is designed to predict text, but has no capacity to truly understand it. So when it finds a theme that feels safe or relevant, it circles back to it again and again. And again.

If you start to notice boring repetition or samey phrasing, chances are the machine’s at work.

It Plays It Safe

By its nature, AI is programmed to please the person prompting it, so it just doesn’t take risks. It doesn’t tell stories that surprise you or challenge any of your assumptions, so it can’t editorialise or persuade anyone to change their mind through what they’re reading. And it definitely doesn’t know how to bend or break tone guidelines in a clever way.

Human writers add perspective, humour and emotion to the things they write. They add a unique understanding of what they would want to see as a reader, making bold claims and then backing them up. With AI, you can expect what you’re reading to hover in neutral and staying agreeable and uncontroversial.

So if a piece feels like it’s trying to please everyone at all costs, it might have been written by something that doesn’t actually care who’s reading.

It’s Commitment-phobic

Ask AI to talk about a brand, a product, or a niche industry, and you’ll often get generalities that sound fine but don’t say much. AI doesn’t really want to commit to an opinion, because it’s drawing from arguments that support both sides of almost everything.

That’s because AI works from patterns, not lived experience. It can describe “great customer service” or “a strong marketing strategy”, but it won’t tell you what actually happened when a campaign went wrong or how a team adapted in the moment. Because it wasn’t there, and because people don’t usually write about their failures and broadcast them on the World Wide Web.

Real writing gets into the details, committing to an opinion and explaining how that specific conclusion was reached. It references real moments, tells a story of the journey and explains the outcomes. It knows what its writer has learned and understood by being there.

It Lacks Emotional Intelligence

While you’re reading the actual lines of text, you’re always reading between them too. We sense tone, timing, context and subtext in what we read, and therefore we add all that to what we’re writing. Sometimes even subconsciously. AI doesn’t do any of that. So it misses the mark often, and it can make big mistakes in the process, delivering an overenthusiasticly insincere apology email or a tone-deaf social caption.

If a message feels slightly off emotionally, even if the words look right, that’s another tell. AI often gets the language right but gets the feeling wrong.

The AI Giveaways At a Glance

Not sure if what you’re reading was written by a human or a bot? Here’s a quick checklist to keep an eye on:

• Too “perfect”: exacting grammar that’s a bit too formal, featuring no quirks or personality.
• Repetitive phrasing: the same idea churned out in slightly different words.
• No strong opinion: avoids strong takes, making bold statements or writing with emotion.
• Surface-level detail: lots of buzzwords, not much insight or real world examples.
• Flat tone: lacks rhythm, a sense of humour or any kind of tangential storytelling.
• Weird transitions: paragraphs are okay in isolation, but feel disconnected from each other.

No human writer is perfect either, but if you’re ticking off more than three of these, chances are you’re reading something that’s been machine-made.

So, Should You Avoid AI Completely?

We get it - you’re probably not going to avoid AI, even if you want to. And we don’t think that’s anything to worry about. It can be a useful tool when it’s guided by people who know how to use it.

An experienced content team can spot the difference between AI and human writing, so they know how to use AI where it adds value. Think streamlined research, idea generation, or speeding up first drafts of those mundane and high volume writing tasks. But the storytelling, nuance, and strategic direction? That still comes from human expertise.

At Seventy7 we use AI to enhance creativity, not replace it. We know how to spot when something sounds artificial and we know how to make sure your brand never does.

Because your audience can tell when something feels human. And that’s exactly what keeps them reading.