HOW TO EASILY DISTINGUISH AI-GENERATED TEXT

Introduction

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with using neural networks in creating different types of texts. Yet it’s a useful skill to be able to distinguish AI-generated text. Plus it’s actually not that difficult. In this blog we’ll explain how to easily distinguish AI generated text. Like ChatGPT and many others.

AI affects many areas of our lives from journalism to storytelling and marketing. Its role in creating content is undeniably important, yet there are certain ethical concerns. AI-made content can cause problems, potentially harming a brand’s reputation. The lack of human oversight can be problematic, especially when search engines find and list this content.

So, how can you tell if a piece of writing is made by AI? Here are some simple tips to help you spot AI-generated text.

Repetitive Patterns

AI often repeats the same phrases or ideas. If you notice that certain words or sentences appear frequently, it might be AI-generated. AI has a specific way of repeating information that feels unnatural compared to human writing.

The text may contain repeated words or phrases that won’t be found in regular conversations, and that is a dead giveaway that the text was generated by a machine. The overuse will be too obvious.

In this example ChatGPT used the word “AI” 14 times out of 116 words, which is overwhelmingly too much.

Also, AI-generated text definitely will not have grammatical or spelling errors, yet it may contain some awkward phrasing or sentence structures that are not typically found in the text created by human creators. Yes, AI is 100% good at mimicking the grammar, but it has a pretty weird sense of humor. Anyway, making mistakes is uniquely human.

AI also overuses common words like ‘the,’ ‘it,’ or ‘is.’ This happens because AI predicts text based on patterns it has learned.

Human-written text, on the other hand, uses a wider variety of words and styles, including slang. This means you might also see typpos in human text. A typo is actually a really good sign that a text was written by a human.

Also, AI can repeat the same words and phrases too much. Even though newer versions like ChatGPT-4 try to be more creative, older models tend to repeat the same things over and over again

Outdated content

As of 2024, ChatGPT’s knowledge stops in September 2021. This means it can only create content with information from that time or earlier. If an article uses only older information, it might be AI-generated.

This limitation means AI-generated articles might not be very detailed because they can’t include the latest data.

On top of that chatbots tend to make up random statistical numbers to “please” the user and answer to the prompt given.

Lack of Depth

AI-generated content usually lacks depth. The writing might cover a topic but often misses nuanced details that a human writer would include. If the text seems shallow or overly simplistic, it could be from AI.

Most human writers will incorporate slang or provide personal opinions throughout their writing. Alternatively, computers are more matter-of-fact, only presenting you with an answer. You usually won’t find any opinions or beliefs.

AI operates by predicting the next most likely word based on patterns seen in its training data. It doesn’t understand context or meaning in the way humans do. Also, AI does not have awareness of current events beyond its last training data update. This means it can miss context or recent developments that are crucial for producing relevant and in-depth content. And, of course, AI cannot perform critical thinking or generate independent opinions. It processes existing information but doesn’t critique or evaluate it to form conclusions.

Emotional Flatness

Humans usually write with emotion that reflects their feelings or opinions. AI text tends to be more neutral and lacks emotional depth. If an article doesn’t seem to have any personal touch or emotional undertones, AI might have written it.

Obviously, AI does not possess any genuine emotions or personal experiences. This absence of real emotional context leads to text that might be accurate in grammar and syntax but lacks depth. AI models like GPT are trained on vast volumes of text from the internet. While this data includes a wide array of emotional expressions, the AI cannot not inherently understand them. Emotional subtleties often require a deep understanding of context, culture, and the specific nuances of human interaction, which are challenging for AI to completely grasp and reproduce authentically.

Unusual Phrasing

AI sometimes uses strange combinations of words or overly formal language that doesn’t sound quite right. If sentences feel awkward or oddly structured, this can be a clue that you’re reading AI-generated content.

AI models are trained on vast datasets collected from the internet. These datasets include varied styles and quality of language, some of which may be incorrect or too formal. So, the neural network learns patterns from this data, sometimes reproducing unusual phrases that reflect less common or non-standard uses of language seen in the training materials.

Also, AI tends to interpret prompts very literally. This can result in responses that strictly adhere to the prompt without the flexibility and adaptiveness of human thought. It can sometimes generalize from its training data in ways that produce vague or overly broad statements, which can manifest as bizarre or unclear phrasing when detail and specificity are needed.

Online Tools

There are numerous online tools available that can analyze text to determine if it’s likely written by AI. These tools look for patterns and markers typical of AI writing. 

They analyze text using context to understand the likelihood of words appearing together. The more predictable the pattern, the more likely it’s AI-generated. 

There are several AI content detection tools for both text and images.   Here are just a few of them:

Summary

AI made great strides as far as what it is capable of doing. The thought of AI generating good long-form content was unimaginable just a few years ago. But at the moment it can help create many different types of texts.

But in order to generate truly high-quality content with AI, a human still needs to help out. That’s why AI content generators are still unlikely to replace human copywriters in the nearest future. They just can’t quite hit the target on their own for now. 

But, as language models and machine learning algorithms become more advanced, AI might do more on its own a little later. However, for now AI tools are still just that: tools. You can use them to write a copy for your website or Instagram post, but it is not replacing you any time soon.

By the way, here’s our piece about the 10 benefits of making your AI tool.