Let’s be honest.
People don’t “detect” AI writing because of some magical tool. They detect it because the writing feels off.
Clean. Predictable. Polite. Helpful.
And strangely… empty.
Here are the most obvious signs your content quietly screams: this was written by ChatGPT.
1. Your writing is too perfectly structured
Humans are messy.
We ramble.
We interrupt ourselves.
We sometimes make a point badly before making it better.
AI writing is neat. Every paragraph behaves. Every sentence knows its place. Lists are balanced. Arguments land exactly where expected.
When your post reads like it was assembled instead of written, people notice.
2. You rely heavily on “Not this, but that” contrasts
You know the pattern.
It’s not about speed, it’s about consistency.
It’s not the tool, it’s how you use it.
It’s not magic, it’s discipline.
Once or twice, fine.
Repeated over and over, it becomes a tell.
Real writers don’t consciously optimize rhetorical balance. They just say the thing.
3. You use lists where you shouldn’t
- Bullets are useful.
- They’re not a personality.
When every idea turns into a numbered list, the writing stops feeling like thinking and starts feeling like formatting.
If the content could survive without bullets but you added them anyway, readers subconsciously clock it as AI-shaped.
4. There’s no personal friction
Strong writing usually has some friction.
- A mild rant.
- A biased take.
- A moment where the author clearly picked a side and risked being wrong.
AI avoids friction. It explains instead of commits. It informs instead of argues.
If your post sounds like it’s trying very hard not to upset anyone, that’s a giveaway.
5. It doesn’t actually say anything new
This is the biggest one.
AI is excellent at rephrasing known ideas.
It’s terrible at discovering them.
If your article feels like “everything I already knew, just worded nicely,” readers won’t call it out. They’ll just stop reading.
Original insight doesn’t require genius.
It requires experience, opinion, or failure.
AI has none of those unless you inject them.
The uncomfortable truth
Using ChatGPT isn’t the problem.
Letting it replace your thinking is.
The best use of AI is as a rough draft, a sparring partner, or a way to get unstuck. The worst use is publishing its first answer and calling it writing.
People don’t hate AI-written content.
They hate content that feels like nobody cared enough to think.
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