Make it sound like you, not a robot

AI writing has a smell. Here's how to get rid of it.

The lesson

How to spot AI-flavored text ("I hope this finds you well," bullet points for everything) and the fixes: paste a couple of examples of your own writing and say "match this voice," ask for shorter and plainer, and always do the final 10% edit yourself — that's where you live.

The picture to keep

The draft spectrum: 100% AI (robotic) → AI draft + your edit (fast AND you) → 100% you (slow). The middle is the sweet spot.

Try it — 60 seconds

Here are two emails I've written: [paste]. Learn my voice. Now draft [new email] the way I would write it.

Copy it into ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini — whichever you already use. Fill in the brackets with your real life.

Watch out

Never send an AI draft to someone important without reading it out loud once. You're responsible for every word you send.