What AI Writing Actually Looks Like Once You Know What to Look For

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“AI writing often exhibits predictable patterns, such as repetitive use of key terms, inaccurate facts, and unnatural sentence structures. While AI detection tools focus on surface-level signals, trained readers can identify AI-generated content by its soulless, cliché-ridden style and lack of human imperfections. Educators can combat AI cheating by familiarizing themselves with AI tools, generating AI-written examples of their assignments, and requiring students to submit personal writing samples.

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AI writing has consistent, recognizable patterns that no detector captures better than a well-trained eye.

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Rachel is a freelancer based in Echo Park, Los Angeles and has been writing and producing content for nearly two decades on subjects ranging from tech to fashion, health and lifestyle to entertainment and education.… Read full bio

Detection tools flag surface-level patterns; trained readers can catch things those tools consistently miss.

Sompong Tom/Getty Images

AI writing may often read poorly, but that doesn’t always mean it’s easy to catch. AI detector software looks for surface signals such as word frequency, sentence length variation, statistical patterns and other permutations while the quality of AI-generated prose operates at a deeper level. That quality is invisible to most detection algorithms but immediately apparent to a reader who knows what AI-generated content actually “feels like” on the page. Here’s what you need to know about recognizing it so you don’t rely on detection tools that, frankly, can’t get the job done.

AI is now seemingly the ultimate “work smarter, not harder” shortcut, and nowhere is that more obvious than in the classroom and in some workplaces. While tools such as ChatGPT are great for writing grocery lists or other kinds of brainstorming tasks, they’re also responsible for creating full-on slop.

As a professor, I’m seeing AI tools such as ChatGPT and Claude pop up in my inbox every single day, and frankly, they’re getting easier to spot — not because of “AI detectors,” but because the writing is so painfully predictable. One of the biggest red flags is what I call the “Wikipedia Voice,” or text that’s grammatically perfect but completely soulless, relying on vague, over-the-top language that parrots the prompt back at me.

If a student who usually writes in fragments suddenly hands in a “multifaceted analysis” that uses the word “tapestry” or “delve,” I become suspicious. AI loves a cliché and can’t resist wrapping every paragraph in a neat little summary bow that starts with “In conclusion.” It’s the written equivalent of a deepfake: It looks right at a glance, but once you start looking for the “human” imperfections, the whole thing falls apart.

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How to tell if something was written by AI

Some of the most common ways to tell if something was written using AI are:

• Key terms from your assignment prompt are used repeatedly.
• Inaccurate facts are included, thanks to the AI chatbot hallucinating.
• Sentences don’t sound natural.
• Explanations are generic and repetitive, rather than actually leading anywhere.
• The tone doesn’t sound like their usual writing style.

For example, a student might use ChatGPT — an AI chatbot that uses large language model learning and a conversational question and answer format to provide query results — to write a short essay response to a prompt by simply copying and pasting the essay question into the tool.

Take this prompt: In 300 words or fewer, explain how this SWAT and brand audit will inform your final pitch.

This is ChatGPT’s result:

Screenshot by Rachel Kane/CNET

I have received responses like this, or those very close to it, a few times in my tenure as a teacher, and one of the most recognizable red flags is the number of instances in which key terms from the prompt are used in the final product. 

Students don’t usually repeat key terms from the prompt in their work in this way, and the results read closer to old-school SEO-driven copy meant to define these terms rather than a unique essay meant to demonstrate an understanding of the subject matter.

But can teachers use AI tools to catch students using AI tools? I devised some ways to be smarter in spotting artificial intelligence in papers.

How to catch AI cheaters

Here’s how to use AI tools to catch cheaters in your class.

Understand AI capabilities

There are AI tools on the market that can scan an assignment and its grading criteria to provide a fully written, cited and complete piece of work in a matter of moments. Some of these tools include GPTZero and Smodin. Familiarizing yourself with tools like these is the first step in the war against AI-driven integrity violations. 

Do as the cheaters do

Before the semester begins, copy and paste all your assignments into a tool like ChatGPT and ask it to do the work for you. When you have an example of the type of results it provides specifically in response to your assignments, you’ll be better equipped to catch AI-written answers. You could also use a tool designed specifically to spot AI writing in papers.

Get a real sample of writing

At the beginning of the semester, require your students to submit a simple, fun and personal piece of writing to you. The prompt should be something like “200 words on what your favorite toy was as a child,” or “Tell me a story about the most fun you ever had.” Once you have a sample of the student’s real writing style in hand, you can use it later to have an AI tool review that sample against what you suspect might be AI-written work.

Ask for a rewrite

If you suspect a student of using AI to cheat on their assignment, take the submitted work and ask an AI tool to rewrite the work for you. In most cases I’ve encountered, an AI tool will rewrite its own work in the laziest manner possible, substituting synonyms instead of changing any material elements of the “original” work.

Here’s an example:

Screenshot by Rachel Kane/CNET

Screenshot by Rachel Kane/CNET

Now, let’s take something an actual human (me) wrote, my CNET bio:

Screenshot by Rachel Kane/CNET

The phrasing is changed, extracting much of the soul from the writing and replacing it with sentences that are arguably clearer and straightforward. There are also more additions to the writing, presumably for further clarity.

Can you always tell if AI wrote something?

The most important part about catching cheaters who use AI to do their work is having a reasonable amount of evidence to show the student and the administration at your school, if it comes to that. Maintaining a skeptical mind when grading is vital, and your ability to demonstrate ease of use and understanding with these tools will make your case that much stronger.

Good luck out there in the new AI frontier, fellow teachers. Try not to be offended when a student turns in work written by a robot collaborator. It’s up to us to make the prospect of learning more alluring than the temptation to cheat.

Rachel Kane

Contributor and former Senior Editor“