Which Signs of AI Writing Disengage People Most?

Content marketing that appears to be AI-written puts people off but doesn’t always undermine engagement, an analysis by the news site Search Engine Land finds.

Readers most often called out AI writing “tics” in phrases such as:

• “In today’s fast-paced digital landscape…”
• “It’s important to note that…”
• “Not only… but also”
• “In conclusion” (even when nothing has been concluded)

The “not only… but also” construction appears frequently, often as “Not only does X do Y, but it also does Z.” Sentences written by AI also start with “then,” “this,” or “that,” as in “Then you should,” “This shows,” or “This means…” 

Other telltale signs that artificial intelligence has generated a text include filler introductions such as “In this article,” “We’ll explore,” and “Let’s take a look.” At the end, an AI text might say “In conclusion,” before summarizing its points. 

Em dashes — the length of a capital letter M — are still the punctuation in content marketing that readers most often view as evidence that AI has written the text. But in a “tic counter” for the analysis, the Shakespeare play “Hamlet” raised more AI alarms than many AI-generated blog posts, because of its frequent em dashes.

According to the data, most AI “tells” don’t strongly affect the performance of marketing content. Phrases built around “not only…” or “not only…but also” had a more negative effect on user engagement. When used occasionally, such constructions can add emphasis, but using them frequently is associated with high user “bounce” rates.

Posts with “Conclusion” headers had the largest negative correlation on engagement, the study found.