To think it's very easy to spot AI writing?

[Apocketfilledwithposies]

Does anyone else notice this?

Its always the same sort of style of writing. I can spot it a mile off!

Facebook pages seem flooded with it lately.

I don't really use social media so I can't comment on Facebook.
But on MN I'm sometimes certain that something is AI generated. Then I see people answering a post as though it is human and I doubt myself.
Tbh so many people seem warped and altered by social media I feel they have taken on a non human quality anyway.

You’re spotting badly prompted AI writing. It’s an absolute scourge and it’s everywhere. My manager this week asked me to check a marketing post that he said he had written, and I was really annoyed that he basically wanted me to fix badly prompted AI drivel so I just said looks great and left him to post it. Not my circus or monkeys.

Well-prompted stuff with the latest gen models is trickier, some people are getting quite good with it, but they’re few and far between.

Spotting AI writing has become increasingly difficult as language models have grown more sophisticated, producing text that mimics human tone, rhythm, and nuance with startling accuracy. Modern AI can replicate subtle stylistic cues, such as varied sentence length, emotional inflection, and even minor grammatical imperfections that once gave machines away. Unlike earlier, more formulaic systems, today’s models can adapt to context and audience, making their writing seem convincingly “human” even under close scrutiny. Detection tools, meanwhile, struggle to keep up—many rely on statistical patterns or “tells” that are no longer consistent indicators of AI authorship. As a result, distinguishing between a skilled human writer and a well-trained algorithm often comes down to instinct rather than certainty.

On the other hand, spotting AI writing can sometimes be surprisingly easy once you know what to look for. Despite its polish, AI often produces text that feels oddly hollow—technically perfect but emotionally flat, lacking the genuine insight or lived experience that gives human writing its depth. It can overuse certain phrases, avoid strong opinions, or wander into overexplaining simple points. There’s also a telltale rhythm to AI prose: sentences tend to flow too smoothly, transitions feel rehearsed, and the balance between complexity and clarity is almost unnaturally consistent. When you read closely, it can feel like something’s missing—a faint mechanical echo beneath the words that betrays its artificial origin.

Or you could just look for the m-dashes —

Yes. as a pp said, it’s drivel.

On eBay you’re offered the option of having AI write the description. Why in the name of God people choose this is beyond me. Just describe your item, use your words. Give measurements if appropriate.

The AI descriptions stand out as useless waffle. I always have to ‘contact the seller’ to get the information I need. I don’t need to be told a dress will look elegant with boots in winter or sandals in summer etc. I DO need dimensions,an accurate account of the condition, whether true to size or not and whether the photo shows the colour accurately etc.

It's quite easy to spot poorly generated AI, not so much the good stuff where people have spent time prompting it on style and content.

I am the driest person alive so I worry sometimes that my work might seem AI generated!

I've done quite a bit of academic writing in the last 10 or so years, and I worry that my work looks a bit AI generated!
I spend bloody ages looking up alternatives to words on a thesaurus to make my work flow - but who is the mug really?!

Well you don’t know do you. You can look at 5 different bits of writing and scoff that one is obviously AI, but you’re never finding out that one of the others was as well.

There have also been studies that have shown that people writing in their second language, and people with autism, are more likely to have their writing incorrectly flagged as being AI.

You're absolutely right, Apocketfilledwithposies. AI does indeed have a distinctive style of writing. Would you like me to help you tailor your documents to be more reflective of your own, unique style?

🤣🤣🤣

Ooooo! AI?! I've seen 'on the other hand' before whe posters have said "this is what chatgpt says when I asked it the question which you wanted some human discussion about".

The problem is, it's NOT easy to spot AI writing. It's easy to spot badly produced AI writing, but there are many companies and individuals who use AI incredibly effectively.

It's like plastic surgery.. you can only tell it's been done when it's been done badly.

Yep. I thought it was obviously AI

The question is....who really cares?

I keep seeing people bleating on about this on LinkedIn. Many people use AI to help them articulate what they want to say and I don't see a problem with that.

Thanks AI!

No problem, is there anything else I can help with?

I use AI to reword a lot of my work emails and reports. They sound great but you have to remember to read it back and change a few words otherwise it reads like an 18th Century Gent

Couldn’t vote as yes there is obvious AI generated content, but also there are huge swathes of posters constantly ‘identifying’ AI who don’t seem to have any idea what they’re talking about and based of a post being too salacious or some detail seeming suspicious to them (bathroom layout was a recent one), that’s driving me mad more than actual AI posts at this point.

I have no issue with people using AI per se but I review a lot of written output and people seem to just not bother reading it. Is Grammerly AI these days? It’s really fucking me off at the moment because it creates a load of typos and mangled words that people don’t spot because they’ve ’proof read it with grammerly’.

Some AI I can spot a mile off.

But, I recently ran something I'd written myself though an AI detector and it said 80% written by AI. I had definitely written it all myself! So it's not as clean cut as you might think.

I don't know.

As an autistic person, I've seen plenty of people within the autistic community being accused of using AI to write, when really, that's rarely the case.

I think it's easy to spot AI generated images - but much harder to spot AI writing.

Despite its polish, AI often produces text that feels oddly hollow—technically perfect but emotionally flat, lacking the genuine insight or lived experience that gives human writing its depth.

AI is right about this, at least. I recently saw a letter which a High Street bank sent to an elderly relative apologising for some really poor behaviour by branch staff. It read to me as obviously AI generated. It didn't seem at all genuine or sincere, there was nothing personal about it.

I can't tell if it's ai or not. I also don't know when it's a bot.
Can someone let me know how to spot it please?

I know. As if no one used emdashes before AI. I will use them as long as I can type...

I have no issue with AI writing at all. Granted, it can be obvious but really, is it a problem? It allows some people to put their thoughts into words, to express their ideas cogently when they're struggling and allow some the confidence to participate in discussions in the first place. I'm all for the aspects that facilitate access to human connection and yes, the irony isn't lost.

If you find the style irritating, sure. I know professionals who write like ChatGPT, it's pretty formulaic once you've been shown.

Not an academic but job involved writing very formally to senior people, I also worry future letters to the my exs solicitor/court will be assumed to be AI generated. 🙄