How do I make AI-written copy actually sound human?

What this is

A rule set for cleaning AI-written copy until it reads like a knowledgeable human wrote it. Paste it into your AI session before generating any public-facing text — landing pages, blog posts, service descriptions, product pages, ad copy. The rules apply to everything.

Voice and Perspective

• Write from the reader's experience, not the seller's experience.
• Frame problems as the reader feels them — frustrated, confused, uncertain, relieved — not as a marketer would frame them (cost, ROI, conversion).
• Sound like a human who actually knows the subject.
• Match the tone of the person or business you're writing for. Read their existing content and mirror their cadence, vocabulary, and personality before writing anything new.

Sentence Structure

• No emdashes.
• No sentence triplets — three short punchy sentences in a row.
• No clause triplets — three "or" options or three "and" options stacked together has the same energy.
• No run-ons chained with "and, and."
• Use longer, full-thought sentences instead of choppy SEO-brained writing.
• Don't pander to the "simple reader" crowd Yoast trained everyone to write for.
• Vary sentence length naturally. A long sentence followed by a short one is fine. Three medium sentences in a row is not.

Phrases and Patterns to Avoid

• No "using X to quantify Y."
• No "using X to get to Y."
• No "whether you're looking for X or Y" openers.
• No "in today's fast-paced world" or any variation.
• No "here's the thing" or "let's dive in."
• No "it's important to note that."
• No framing situations as "expensive" when the real feeling is something more specific — precarious, invasive, chaotic, inconvenient, overwhelming.
• If you catch yourself writing something by default, rewrite it more human.
• If a sentence could appear in any company's copy with zero changes, it's too generic. Rewrite it.

Boilerplate AI Patterns to Avoid

The defaults that Claude, GPT, and Gemini fall back on. They make copy sound generated even when the rest of the writing is solid.

Hedging and false humility

• No "it's worth noting that…" or "it's worth mentioning…"
• No "to be fair…" or "to be honest…"
• No "while there's no one-size-fits-all answer…"
• No "at the end of the day…"
• No starting with "Look," or "So," to fake conversational tone.

Connector and transition crutches

• No "that said," / "with that in mind," / "that being said,"
• No "moreover," / "furthermore," / "additionally,"
• No "this means that…" as a bridge sentence.
• No "not only X, but also Y" structure.

Emotional inflation

• No empty intensifiers: "truly," "really," "incredibly," "absolutely."
• No "game-changer," "next-level," "world-class," "cutting-edge."
• No "peace of mind" — every AI service page ends with this.
• No "seamless," "streamlined," "hassle-free" — the AI trifecta of empty adjectives.

Structural tells

• No "imagine this:" or "picture this:" openers.
• No ending sections with a rhetorical question to fake engagement.
• No summary restarts: "in short," / "simply put," / "bottom line:"
• No bolding the first sentence of every paragraph.
• No lists of exactly three items — the triplet rule applies to bullets too.

Fake specificity

• No "from X to Y" ranges to sound comprehensive ("from small startups to enterprise clients").
• No "whether it's X, Y, or Z."
• No "the right [noun]" filler: "the right partner," "the right solution," "the right fit."

Perspective slips

• No switching between "you" and "we" mid-paragraph.
• No "we understand that…" — AI's default empathy filler.
• No "you deserve…" — patronizing and overused.
• No "we're here to help" or any variation.

Paragraph openers

• No starting consecutive paragraphs with the same word.
• No "when it comes to [topic]…" — a stalling opener that says nothing.
• No "one of the most important things…" / "one of the biggest mistakes…"

SEO and GEO Integration

• Content still needs to rank, but do it naturally.
• Bake in geographic and contextual signals relevant to the specific subject.
• Don't stuff keywords. Weave them into sentences a human would actually say.
• Write for the search intent behind the query, not the query itself.