Ai signs

AI Signs

A short, opinionated pass over prose to remove the fingerprints that make writing feel machine-generated. Runs silently. No announcements, no "here is what I changed" report — just the cleaned text.

When to run

Run this audit automatically, before the user sees or the document receives the text, for:

• Any Write or Edit that inserts more than ~60 words of prose into a file.
• Any drafted paragraph or section shown to the user for a document.
• Any assembled-string content heading into a generated .docx, .pdf, .pptx, .md, or .html artefact.

Do not run this on code, file paths, error messages, log output, verbatim quotes, or the user's own words echoed back.

The nine passes

1. Banned-vocabulary strip

Delete or substitute these on sight. For most of them, the sentence survives intact without a synonym.

Drop or replace	Use instead
robust	reliable / strong / dependable
seamless / seamlessly	smooth / direct / without friction
crucial / vital / pivotal / paramount	important / central (pick one)
showcase	show / present / demonstrate
comprehensive	full / complete
holistic	whole / broad
leverage (verb)	use / draw on
delve / deep dive	look at / examine
tapestry / landscape (metaphor)	(drop — name the thing)
intricate	(describe what is detailed)
cutting-edge / state-of-the-art	(drop — prove it by description)
powerful / innovative / revolutionary	(drop — show the capability)
world-class / industry-leading	(drop)
best-in-class / game-changing	(drop)
next-level	(drop)
in today's fast-paced world	(drop the clause entirely)
in the modern era / in today's digital	(drop)
it is important to note that	(drop the stem)
it is worth mentioning that	(drop the stem)
navigating the complexities of	(drop — state what is done)
at the heart of	(drop or replace with "in")
unlock the potential of	(drop)

2. Em-dash cap

Em dashes are fine in moderation. They are a tell in abundance.

• At most one em dash per paragraph.
• At most two em dashes per 200 words.

Replace the surplus with a comma, period, or semicolon based on clause weight. Do not replace with an en dash or double hyphen — that is not the fix.

3. Rule-of-three pruning

Watch for "X, Y, and Z" triplets used for rhythm rather than meaning. When at least one item is filler or a near-synonym of another, cut the weakest and keep two. "Fast, efficient, and performant" → "fast and efficient".

4. Superficial "-ing" analysis

Sentences that open with a gerund often smuggle in a vague claim:

• "Leveraging the framework enables scalable development."
• "Implementing the pattern ensures clean code."
• "Utilising this approach allows flexibility."

Rewrite with a concrete subject and verb that names the mechanism:

• "The framework lets two services share the cache because …"
• "The pattern decouples the controller from the repository, so …"

5. Vague-attribution rewrite

Strip or replace: "experts suggest", "studies show", "it is widely believed", "many practitioners agree", "research indicates", "according to recent findings". Three options, in order of preference:

1. Replace with a concrete citation already present in the document.
2. Drop the attribution and state the fact directly if it is uncontroversial.
3. Remove the claim entirely if neither above applies.

6. Promotional-language strip

No "powerful", "innovative", "revolutionary", "world-class", "industry-leading", "best-in-class", "game-changing", "transformative", "groundbreaking". State what the thing does; let the reader conclude.

7. Negative-parallelism collapse

"Not just X, but Y" and "It is not A, it is B" are AI tics. Keep the construction only when the contrast earns its weight. Otherwise, state the positive directly:

• ❌ "The system is not just fast — it is intelligent."
• ✅ "The system adapts its query plan to the current load."

8. Conjunctive-adverb pruning

AI-generated prose leans hard on "moreover", "furthermore", "additionally", "consequently", "therefore", "in conclusion" as decorative connectors. Remove when the logical link is already clear from the preceding sentence. Keep only where the connector carries real load.

9. Inflated-symbolism flattening

"This represents a paradigm shift in how we think about …", "It signals a new era of …", "It stands as a testament to …". These are ornamental. Cut them. If the underlying fact matters, state it plainly.

Output protocol

1. The audit runs silently. Do not narrate any pass.
2. Do not append a "changes I made" summary.
3. The user sees only the cleaned text, in place.
4. If a claim cannot be salvaged because it is ungrounded, you may surface that single item as a short question. Mechanical fixes from passes 1-9 are never surfaced.

Banned-words quick card (paste-ready)

robust  seamless  crucial  vital  pivotal  paramount  showcase
comprehensive  holistic  leverage  delve  deep dive  tapestry
landscape  intricate  cutting-edge  state-of-the-art  powerful
innovative  revolutionary  world-class  industry-leading
best-in-class  game-changing  next-level  transformative
groundbreaking  in today's fast-paced world  in the modern era
it is important to note  it is worth mentioning
navigating the complexities of  at the heart of
unlock the potential of

Smell-test one-liners

After the nine passes, read the paragraph aloud. Ask:

1. Could this have been written by a person who was in a hurry?
2. Does any sentence brag about the idea instead of explaining it?
3. Does any sentence announce what is about to happen rather than say it?
4. Could any sentence be cut without losing information?

If yes to any, cut or rewrite. Then insert.