“Caught in the Act!” — Your Guide to Spotting AI-Written Content

Courtney Simms
Technology Hits
Published in
2 min readJul 2, 2024

Fancy learning how to spot those sneaky AI-written texts? Well, you’re in the right place! We’re about to spill the tea on how to catch computer-generated writing in the act.

Photo by Andrea De Santis on Unsplash

Words That Might Give the Game Away

Imagine you’re reading an essay when suddenly you spot the word “delve”. Congratulations! You might have just stumbled upon a clue that it’s AI-generated.

But hold on a minute — using “delve” doesn’t automatically mean it’s written by a computer. Some people just love fancy words! Still, keep an eye out for these suspicious phrases:

Transition Words to Watch For

  • Accordingly (Bit formal, isn’t it?)
  • Moreover (Getting a bit posh here)
  • Thus (Are we in a courtroom?)

Adjectives That Try Too Hard

  • Exemplary (It’s just homework, not the Nobel Prize)
  • Synergistic (Unless it’s a business report, probably not)
  • Thought-provoking (Might be running out of ideas)

Nouns That Raise an Eyebrow

  • Landscape (Unless we’re talking about actual scenery)
  • Tapestry (Unless it’s about weaving, maybe not)
  • Realm (What is this, a fantasy novel?)

Verbs That Sound a Bit Too Clever

  • Augment (Why not just say “improve”?)
  • Facilitate (Fancy way of saying “help”)
  • Utilize (It’s “use”. Just say “use”!)

Phrases That Might Make You Cringe

  • “It’s worth noting that…” (Is it really?)
  • “This is not an exhaustive list” (Well, obviously)
  • “Leveraging data-driven insights” (So… you did some research?)

Other Potential Giveaways

  1. Sentences that go on forever
  2. An overly formal tone in casual writing (or vice versa)
  3. Text that waffles on without really saying much

Remember, using these words doesn’t automatically mean someone’s cheating — they might just be trying to sound clever! The key is to look for patterns and overall style.

Happy AI-spotting, everyone!

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Courtney Simms
Technology Hits

Top Medium Writer, So if you wanna collab, have a product to promote or snag some killer links? Slide into my DMs: courtneysimms577@gmail.com