8 Common ChatGPT Phrases and Why You Must Avoid Them
Making your text more human
I have been writing for this particular client for a few years now, and we started the contract long before ChatGPT ever came into being.
A few months back, we got talking, and her train of thought gave the impression she believed I was using ChatGPT to create her content.
It drove me mad! Because, out of the 200+ blogs I’ve published on her website, I’ve used ChatGPT for nothing more than five.
And those were really complex research articles with difficult medical terms that I had to simplify using ChatGPT.
I had never for once copied and published an entire AI-generated content on her website. I either used ChatGPT for a few complex paragraphs or thoroughly edited its article to remove AI footprints and make it more human.
But I completely stopped using ChatGPT when I realized it took me more time to edit than to just manually write from scratch.
I explained all of that to my client. But a few months later, she mentioned the last article I submitted sounded AI-generated, as many others before it.
This messed up my mind shitless.
Where in the name of God was her allusion coming from?
It occurred to me she was experiencing the frequency illusion, also known as the Baader–Meinhof phenomenon.
The Baader–Meinhof phenomenon is a cognitive bias referring to the tendency to notice something more often after noticing it for the first time, leading to the belief that it has an increased frequency of occurrence.
For example, you notice some AI-generated content. And then almost every other content you stumble upon appears also to be AI-generated.
Could be that was the case with this good client of mine. From the moment I affirmed I do use AI, she started perceiving AI in every blog I produced.
The truth is, if you write in a professional tone, chances are some parts of the content will pass as AI-generated.
That means, to avoid being falsely accused, you must make your content obviously distinct from something ChatGPT will likely create.
The first step is to identify common sentence structures ChatGPT often uses. Then, by all means, avoid all of that in your work — or limit as much as possible.
Because, the moment a vast ChatGPT user stumbles upon such sentences in your content, you would have a ton of explaining to do to convince them otherwise.
Aside from the phrases that I will highlight in this article, there are certain sentence structures too often used by ChatGPT. Using the same sentence structure consistently forms a pattern, and these patterns are what AI detectors look out for.
Why not, I may have to create a future article on those common sentence structures.
For now, let’s talk about the common ChatGPT phrases to avoid in your content.
So, here goes:
1. “It is important to note that…”
Well, don’t we all write this way? Even before the ChatGPT era. So why avoid it now just because some robot uses it way too often?
Firstly, precisely that: ChatGPT uses it a lot. Secondly, why say, “It’s important to note that you must brush your teeth if you want it clean” when you could just say, “You must brush your teeth if you want it clean”?
2. “Harmonious dance”
I’ve never used this phrase in my life, and I can’t remember seeing it on any blog until AI content became a thing. It appears in one too many responses that I’m beginning to loathe the phrase.
3. “Tapestry”
Ever had a friend who would rather die than go a day without using a particular word? Maybe even to the point that it becomes repulsive to you? If you’ve been using ChatGPT a lot and haven’t noticed the “tapestry” word occurring overly frequently, consider yourself lucky.
4. “In the digital landscape/era…”
75% of all ChatGPT blog posts will begin with this phrase as long as the topic is anything digital-related.
5. “In the world of…”
In the world of divorce… in the legal world, in the dynamic world of sales, name it. The amount of times that robo-writer uses such phrases is so significant that it’s concerning. Usually appears in the first line of the introduction.
6. “Unsung hero”
Ask ChatGPT to write you a blog on “10 tools to enhance so-and-so” and make it conversational, and I could bet a million bucks this phrase would pop up. It would have been a great phrase were it not to appear in almost every similar blog post I ask ChatGPT to write in a conversational style.
7. “Secret weapon”
Granted, this is a normal phrase we get to use once in a while. It, however, gets annoying when too many articles I ask ChatGPT to write in a conversational tone end up containing those same words.
8. “It’s not only about…; it’s about”
Here’s another common phrase you’ll find in ChatGPT content. Sometimes, it reads this way, “It will not only…but also…” For example, “This capability not only expedites the sales process but also demonstrates a commitment to providing excellent customer service”
But hey, don’t get me wrong, this is a phrase I’ve been using ever since I could write, and it works.
However, good writing should be varied; if the same word appears more than two times in the same sentence or paragraph, it doesn’t always read well.
Same thing applies when the same sentence structure like this one repeats more than four times in a 500-word blog.
Such a pattern gets boring, if not irritating.
Key Takeaway
The essence of all I’ve said isn’t to dissuade you from using those phrases entirely, neither is it a campaign against the use of AI. I do use AI once in a while, but I never copy and paste 100% of its response.
Now, here’s what you can do to leverage ChatGPT optimally and make your content pass as human:
Edit your content ferociously; look out for common phrases and eliminate them. For example:
ChatGPT: This capability not only expedites the sales process but also demonstrates a commitment to providing excellent customer service.
Edit: Aside from expediting the sales process, this capability also demonstrates a commitment to providing excellent customer service.
You could also strategically place the phrases so that they are surrounded by human-generated content.
Whatever you do, the ultimate goal is to limit the AI footprint in your content: make it less patterned and more varied.
P.S: what common phrases have you noticed with ChatGPT content, and which one annoys you the most?
