Vesna Scepanovic 
Maybe you’ve lived through a moment like this: you let an older cousin “help” with a homework assignment, hand it in, and the teacher calls you out before you even sit down. Not because the answer was wrong or the style was messy, but because it didn’t sound like you.
That same feeling shows up today when you read something that looks fine on the surface but feels strangely hollow. It’s the moment you start wondering how to spot AI writing, because the sentences flow, yet nothing inside them feels lived-in. There’s no point of view, friction, or real intention.
Language gives us away. Humans write to explain, argue, poke, question, persuade, and sometimes even ramble on purpose. AI writes to predict the next likely phrase. That difference shapes everything: the openers it leans on, the transitions it repeats, the buzzwords it treats like seasoning.
And when you know what to look for, the difference becomes obvious. Not to shame the machine, but to understand why the voice feels off and what real, human content needs to rise above it.
Why AI Falls Back on These Phrases
If you’re learning how to spot AI writing, start with this: AI doesn’t write with intention. It writes with probability. It picks the next likely word based on patterns from everything it has seen.
That’s why it leans on familiar lines. Generic openers feel “safe.” Polite transitions bridge ideas even when the ideas aren’t strong. Buzzwords fill the gaps when the model isn’t sure what you actually want to say.
The result is content that sounds polished but forgettable. Search engines notice that, and readers feel it. When everything blends into the same predictable tone, nothing stands out.
AI detectors sound helpful, but they’re guessing. They flag patterns, not authorship, which is why they often get it wrong on both human and AI text. Treat them as a hint at best. Your own instincts are far more reliable.
The difference is simple: humans write to make a point, and AI writes to fill a space. Once you see that pattern, the tells are easy to catch.
The Most Common AI Tells
When you know how to spot AI writing, you start seeing the same habits everywhere. They’re small, but they stack up fast.
Here are the patterns readers notice first.
The Overly Polished Opener
AI loves tidy introductions because they’re statistically common. That’s why “In today’s fast-paced world” shows up so often. It’s a shortcut, not a story.
A stronger start comes from something real, specific, and grounded in context.
Transitions That Feel Like Fillers
When AI isn’t sure how ideas connect, it drops “moreover,” “furthermore,” or “additionally.” These words smooth the surface without adding meaning.
Human writing doesn’t need training wheels to move from one thought to the next.
Buzzwords With No Pulse
This approach reduces fluff, cuts through the noise, and ultimately helps your team move the needle.
Did this sentence make you wince? Exactly. It sounds polished, but it actually says nothing.
“Cutting-edge,” “holistic,” “robust solution,” “seamless experience.” These phrases promise a lot but say very little. They’re placeholders for details that never arrive.
If you want your writing to hold up, use specifics instead of slogans.
The Endless Neutral Tone
AI avoids risk, so everything stays pleasant, polished, and painfully safe. Nothing sharp. Nothing bold. It’s the kind of voice brands use when they want to say something without actually saying anything.
Paragraphs With No Center
AI writes to fill space, not to make a point. That’s how you end up with long paragraphs that drift instead of drive. One idea per paragraph is usually enough, and it makes spotting AI writing much easier.
Overexplaining the Obvious
Because AI tries to cover every angle, it often explains things your reader already understands. People don’t need the basics repeated. They need perspective, not padding.
Why These Patterns Break Trust
Even when the grammar is clean, readers can feel when something’s off. It’s the same instinct that helps you spot AI writing in the first place. The voice sounds nice, but the intention is missing. There’s no lived experience behind the words, no angle, no real stake in the topic.
That gap breaks trust. People don’t just read information. They read the motive. They want to know why you’re saying something, not just what you’re saying. And when the writing feels generic, they assume the thinking behind it is just as thin.
Search engines pick up on this as well. Systems built to evaluate expertise and real experience don’t reward content that looks like it came from a template. Google’s E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) is grounded in perspective. Predictable phrasing hurts all four.
When everything sounds the same, nothing feels credible. And that’s exactly why brands need a human voice that stands for something, instead of sounding like everything else.
What This Means for SEO
Knowing how to spot AI writing isn’t just useful for editing. It tells you where SEO is heading. Search systems are getting better at telling the difference between content written with intention and content stitched together for the sake of the form.
That matters because AI-styled writing blends into one tone. It offers no angle, no perspective, nothing new for the search to highlight. When every page sounds the same, your page has no reason to rank.
Human tone flips that. Real insight, clean structure, and a clear point of view give search something to trust. They make your content easier to show in AI-driven results.
In a world full of average writing, meaning is the advantage. And the brands that grow are the ones that sound unmistakably human.
How to Sound Human Again
If you know how to spot AI writing, you also know the difference when something comes from an actual person. Real writing has a direction. It has a point of view. And it doesn’t hide behind stock phrases. Getting there is simple if you stay grounded in what humans naturally do when they communicate.
Here’s what helps:
- Start with something real: A short story, a moment, a data point. Readers trust what feels lived, not recycled.
- Cut filler transitions: If the idea is strong, it doesn’t need “moreover” to survive.
- Replace buzzwords with specifics: Say what a tool does instead of calling it “cutting-edge.” Explain the improvement instead of calling it “seamless.”
- Write what you actually believe: A real angle gives the piece shape. AI can mimic tone, but not conviction.
- One idea per paragraph: Clarity beats volume. It also makes it easier to know how to spot AI writing when paragraphs start drifting without a point.
Human writing stands out because it comes from someone who cares enough to say something clear. That’s what readers remember.
Make Your Writing Impossible to Ignore
Once you know how to spot AI writing, you start noticing the gaps it leaves behind: the flow without direction, the sentences without a point, the voice that never quite shows up. That absence is the giveaway.
Human writing brings something completely different. It comes from a person with a reason to speak, a specific angle, a lived moment, a choice. That’s what makes it feel real, and that’s what readers trust.
In Zlurad, we help brands create content that carries meaning, not just structure. Content that stands out instead of blending in. Content built for humans first, and rewarded by search because of it.
When your voice has intention, you don’t compete with the average. You rise above it.