One of the leading concerns about AI-written contents is that it will be hard for individuals to tell the difference between them and human-written articles. The good news is that there are a few signs that can help readers determine if a piece of content was written by an AI or a human.
| Takeaways from “12 Ways to Spot AI-Written Content” |
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| AI language models are becoming more advanced and can generate convincing content. |
| AI-generated content may contain errors or inconsistencies that can reveal its origin. |
| Reading content out loud or copying and pasting into a search engine can help identify AI-generated content. |
| Certain phrases or sentences that are too perfect or too similar to existing content may indicate AI-generated content. |
| Regularly checking for plagiarism and using AI-powered content detection tools can help identify AI-generated content. |
| Staying up-to-date on AI advancements and developing strategies for creating original and high-quality content can help combat the spread of AI-generated content. |
1. Unnaturalness
A lack of human touch is one of the most obvious signs that a piece of content was written by AI. This lack can be observed in many ways, including:
Lack of personal style and tone. If you’re reading a piece of content and it sounds like it could have been written by anyone, chances are the author didn’t take any time to make it their own. If it seems like an algorithm wrote it, chances are that’s exactly what happened!
Lack of emotion or empathy. Machines don’t care about people as much as we do—but if yours does tell you so!
As AI continues to advance, it’s important for writers to understand the potential impact on their job prospects. Check out our article on what GPT-3 means for writers’ jobs to learn more about the capabilities of AI language models.
2. Unit Cohesion
In the previous section, we learned about the importance of development and organization in writing.
You can now move on to the next level – unit cohesion. Unit cohesion refers to how well each sentence in a paragraph relates to its central idea. In other words, unit cohesion is a measure of how strong the connections between sentences are in a paragraph.
The more unified your paragraphs are in terms of their central ideas and supporting details, the better suited they’ll be for use in an essay exam or as part of a research paper or report.
3. Indirect Speech
Indirect speech is a common feature of news articles and other types of writing that quote sources or provide information received from another source. Indirect speech can be used when the speaker is not the source of the information they are quoting or reporting on, but rather has heard or read it elsewhere.
This type of indirect dialogue (or indirect speech) helps avoid giving a false impression that the speaker is claiming this information as to their own, which can be important when writing about events reported by other sources.
In addition to its use in news articles, indirect dialogue may be seen in other types of non-fiction writing such as biographies.
4. Repetition
The first sign of AI-written content is repetition. AI tools are trained on a large corpus of data. The training data, which consists of large volumes of text, is then fed into the tool and analyzed. After analyzing the texts and extracting patterns from them, the tool will be able to write new texts that it has learned from its analysis.
However, this process only works if the input text contains certain patterns or characteristics. If you see repetition in your work that makes no sense at all and does not make logical sense then you may be dealing with AI-generated content.
Machine learning has made significant strides in generating human-like copy, but should we be afraid of the potential consequences? Learn more about the impact of machine learning on copywriting in our article.
5. Inconsistencies In Writing
If you’ve ever read an AI-generated article and thought, “This makes no sense,” you’re not alone. It’s hard to know if your writing is free of AI tampering if it reads as if a robot wrote it but there are some telltale signs.
One way to spot a bot-written article is by looking at the style and tone. At its most basic level, style refers to word choices; as we’ve mentioned before, bots tend to prefer shorter words over longer ones (think: “the” versus “this”).
So if an article uses a lot of short words with little variation in sentence length or structure (e.g., all sentences start with “and”), this could be an indicator that something isn’t right with the text.
Tone refers not only to how the author writes but also how they sound in their voice or their personality when they’re speaking or writing themselves.
If an article seems off because it doesn’t match what would be expected given its topic or subject matter, then take another look at how the author sounds while they’re discussing these things (for example: Why did they choose certain words when other options were available?).
If there’s anything unusual about this person’s tone—especially if it seems out of place compared to what we know about them through other sources (e.g., social media profiles)–then chances are high that something’s amiss here too!
6. Inconsistent Writing Style Across Articles And Media
The writing style should be consistent across articles and media: In nearly all cases, it’s clear when a website’s content is written by humans.
If you notice that a company or organization tends to use certain words, phrases, and sentence structures repeatedly in its press releases, blog posts, or other written content, there’s a good chance that those same words will appear in any new piece of content published on the website.
The writing style should be consistent with the brand: You may find some inconsistencies if you look closely enough at an article written by AI – but only if you’re familiar enough with both the brand itself and its history of publishing on its site.
For example, if you know how often a company typically updates its social media pages with new posts about upcoming events or products and services (or even just general thoughts), then subtle changes in tone might tip you off that something isn’t right.
The writing style should be consistent with the topic: As mentioned above, topics covered by companies vary greatly depending on their industry but they also tend to stay within certain boundaries depending on what type of audience they hope to reach (e.g., investors vs consumers).
Thus while some topics may be more likely than others for AI-written pieces such as “Top 10 Things We Learned At Our New York Office Opening Party,” there are still some differentiating characteristics worth noting when comparing one article against another (such as whether words like “parties” were used multiple times within each section).
Freelancers across various industries may soon find themselves competing with AI, but there’s no need to panic just yet. Our article on how AI is becoming a major competitor for freelancers explores the potential impact and how to stay ahead of the game.
7. Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the act of taking someone else’s work and presenting it as one’s own. It is a form of academic dishonesty and a violation of academic integrity.
The easiest way to spot plagiarism is by looking at the way it’s written. Here are some common signs:
The use of words or phrases that aren’t found in any dictionary but sound like they belong there, such as “reticulated spline” or “fibrous periosteum”. This suggests that you’re reading an essay about something technical, like surgery techniques for treating fibrous tumors on the scalp but not learning anything new about them.
The same word or phrase is repeated throughout a single paragraph, e.g., “I am very happy with my new phone.”
You can tell these sentences have been copied from another source because they lack proper continuity; when you write an essay yourself you would use synonyms and other ways to vary your sentence structure (e.g., “My new iPhone makes me feel ecstatic!”).
8. Lack Of Empathy
AI cannot understand the nuances of human experience. For example, AI is unable to tell the difference between a sarcastic statement and a genuine one. Similarly, it can’t tell if you’re talking about yourself or someone else when you say “we.”
Many people use these words interchangeably with each other in daily conversation and then some don’t use them at all!
This is why most articles written by machines are often devoid of empathy and emotional depth: they don’t understand how humans think or feel.
While this lack of understanding doesn’t necessarily mean that AI content won’t be readable or useful for readers (and indeed, some people do prefer reading machine-written texts), it does make for less engaging reading experiences overall as readers are unable to connect with what’s being said on an emotional level.
Despite the rise of AI-generated content, human writers still possess unique skills that cannot be replaced by machines. Check out our article on why freelance writers need not worry about being replaced by AI to learn more about the advantages of human writing.
9. Word Choice And Contextual Meaning
Word choice is one of the most common methods used by AI to make the content seem like it was written by a human. One example of this can be found in the headline “Artificial Intelligence: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”.
It uses three words that are not commonly used together, but because they all relate to AI, they may make you think that the article was written by a human. However, if you look closer at how these worlds interact with each other in contextually meaningful ways (i.e., using AI as a verb), then you might start to notice something strange about this particular phraseology.
In this case, the use of “ugly” doesn’t seem appropriate with either “good” or “bad”. Instead, it feels like an adverbial modifier being used incorrectly as an adjective (think: good-looking vs ugly).
Another way that word choice can be manipulated by AI is through synonyms words with similar meanings but different connotations—which create ambiguity between users’ expectations and their experience when reading content online.”
10. Sensitivity To Cultural Nuances And Context
An important quality that humans have is the ability to understand the context of what they are reading. We can easily connect and relate with the content we read because we have an understanding of the world around us and how things work in it. However, this is not something AI can do yet.
AI-written contents lack sensitivity to cultural nuances and context as they don’t understand anything about the real world or human beings for that matter! This means that if you have ever used an AI-written article or blog post before, chances are it was full of mistakes when it came to referencing something like people’s names or places mentioned in them.
11. Sentence Structure And Grammar
- Sentences should be complete and make sense.
- Sentences should be easy to read.
- Sentences should be grammatically correct. Check for punctuation, capitalization, and spelling errors.
They should be well-structured this means that they have a beginning, middle, and an end (think of it as a story). A well-structured sentence also has a topic sentence that establishes the main idea or concept being discussed in the paragraph or essay (for example: “This essay will explain how AI can change our world”).
The body paragraphs then develop this concept by providing supporting evidence from sources such as books, articles, or interviews with experts on the topic at hand;
Each body paragraph ends with another topic sentence before moving on to another point related to the overall argument being made by this piece of writing (for example: “AI will impact every aspect of our lives from education…”).
Finally, there’s usually one final concluding statement that ties everything back together again into one cohesive thought about how we might respond to new technologies like artificial intelligence for them not just remain tools but become more than just tools they could become friends too!
Despite the rise of AI-generated content, human writers still possess unique skills that cannot be replaced by machines. Check out our article on why freelance writers need not worry about being replaced by AI to learn more about the advantages of human writing.
12. Factual Inconsistencies, Inaccuracies, Or Outdated Content
Check the facts. Are there any dates in the content that don’t make sense? For example, if you’re reading an article about a current event, it’s important to check the date of publication and see if it was written before or after that event took place.
You can also look into whether or not they have a page dedicated to their sources if they do (and most good writers will), then you can use this as an additional resource for fact-checking purposes.
Check the date and source of information presented in the content. Read this carefully: there are two distinct pieces of information here: date and source. They’re separate concepts! When someone says that something happened on October 21st, 2018 but only mentions an unnamed “article” as their source, you should immediately be suspicious!
Conclusion
As AI technology develops and becomes more prevalent in our lives, it’s important to know how to spot when an article has been written by an algorithm or not. In the future, it might be difficult for people to distinguish between machine-generated content and human-written content.
For us to trust that our news and information is coming from a reliable source, we need to be able to tell if something was created by a computer program or not. In this article, we have outlined some of the most common markers of machine-generated content.
The next time you see an article pop up on your feed, you will be better equipped than ever before to tell whether it was written by humans or machines!
Further Reading
How to Spot AI-Generated Text: This article provides tips on identifying text generated by AI and understanding the current capabilities of AI language models.
AI Content Detection Case Study: This case study explores the use of AI-powered content detection tools to identify and mitigate instances of plagiarism and fraudulent content.
How to Avoid AI Content Detection: This article provides strategies for avoiding detection by AI-powered content detection tools and maintaining the integrity of your original content.
FAQs
What is AI-generated content?
AI-generated content refers to text, images, and other media that have been created or generated using artificial intelligence algorithms and language models.
How can I spot AI-generated content?
Some indicators of AI-generated content include unnatural or repetitive phrasing, inconsistent tone or style, and an overall lack of coherence or relevance to the intended topic.
What are the potential risks of AI-generated content?
AI-generated content can pose risks to the credibility and accuracy of information presented online, as well as potential legal issues related to plagiarism and copyright infringement.
How can I protect my content from being detected by AI tools?
Strategies for avoiding detection by AI-powered content detection tools include using diverse language and sentence structures, avoiding the use of template or boilerplate text, and focusing on creating original and high-quality content.
What are some tools available for detecting AI-generated content?
There are several tools available for detecting AI-generated content, including plagiarism checkers, content analysis software, and language model detection tools. However, it’s important to note that these tools may not be 100% accurate and can sometimes produce false positives.
What Is The Difference Between Ai And Human-Written Content?
AI written content: can be detected by using a specific tool that will highlight for you if it’s AI or not. You can use either tool that is available online, such as Grammarly or Hemmingway, or you can ask professionals to help you detect AI-written content.
Human-written content: cannot be detected as easily as AI-written content. We, humans, are too smart for our good! When we write something, there are so many things that we do subconsciously that no computer program is yet invented to understand these non-verbal cues like sarcasm and humor (or even plain old ignorance).
So how do you spot human-written content? First of all, they often have errors in them because they have been edited by real people with real brains who make mistakes just like everyone else does!
What Are The Different Types Of AI-Written Content?
There are several different types of AI-written content, as well as many ways that they can be used in conjunction with human-written content to complete tasks. Here is a brief overview:
- Theme Generation – Generates topics based on keywords and phrases
- Information Extraction – Extracts information from web pages (for example, extracting addresses from reviews)
- Question Answering – Answers questions based on keywords or context (for example, “How do I remove rust stains?”)
I am a content writer, and I love what I do! Writing makes me feel like the words are flowing through my fingers, and then onto the keyboard, like magic. My experience as a writer has taught me that writing makes me feel good, as well as helps others to feel better too!
