Writing | Technology
6 Signs Something Was Written By AI
An analysis.
I can spot AI-written articles 80–90% of the time.
There’s no silver bullet that tells you — usually. It’s more a collection of signs.
It’s fluffy and stuck on the surface
GPT-3 uses predictive text, meaning it combs the internet for what usually comes next in a sequence.
Here’s the problem: Most blogs are poorly written. For every quality New York Times piece, there are 50 SEO fluff pieces (1500-word articles that only needed 700 words). Articles about recipes and home improvement are the worst offenders.
For example, I entered a prompt into the AI writer on how to wake up earlier. Here’s what came back:
Wake up on time. This is the most important step to getting your day started on the right foot. The best way to wake up on time is with a morning routine. You can set an alarm for a specific time, but if you want to wake up early, you should create a routine of some kind that will help get you out of bed at the same time each day.
Note the repetition of words and redundant ideas. That entire paragraph could be compressed to “A good morning routine helps you wake up faster and be more productive.”
