“How are you using AI?”
That’s a popular question among creatives. Ann Handley says AI is a tool, and I agree with her. It’s “a robot perched on our shoulder, not the creator at the keyboard.”
Like Ann, I use AI tools to refine introductions and help me with my headlines because I know I’m not very good at those. But I don’t just use whatever the AI spits out. I take it as a starting point and then refine, massage, and rewrite it… once, twice, sometimes even three times.
And because I’m a professional writer who uses AI as a tool, my clients can rest assured that they’re getting 100% human-generated words. (If you don’t believe me, check out my Authory certificate that says so. 😁)
Yet I’ve read stories online of writers getting flagged for AI use when they didn’t use any and editors being asked to edit AI-generated content.
If you want to be proactive so you can confidently answer that your work is 100% you, here are a few ways to prove your work is human-generated.
Proving Your Content Was Written by a Human*
The asterisk here is that the AI detector apps can be just as flawed as the AI generator app that created the content. (One freelance writer fed content generated by one content AI app into a detector, and it said it was 100% human. They fed in an old blog post they wrote 10 years ago, and the detector said it was overwhelmingly AI-written.)
Even OpenAI, the creators of ChatGPT, has said that AI detectors are unreliable today, especially on texts shorter than 1,000 words. But even longer texts are sometimes incorrectly labeled by some tools. Many only work on English text and often don’t work on specialized text like code. The FTC has stated that AI detection accuracy is hard to quantify and prove, so use them at your own risk.
AI Detector Tool Options
Keeping in mind the potential pitfalls, you may opt to try these AI detection tools which will compare a selected text against LLMs (Large Language Models) from the top AI generators. Some give you a percentage score (“11% AI generated”) or just a pass/fail score. I tried out a few of these and got varied enough results that I wouldn’t rely on them entirely.
If you’d like to try yourself, look at:
Get Human-Generated Certified
While primarily a portfolio tool, Authory’s platform constantly scans the submitted content to rate it with a good degree of accuracy. Especially for those using it before the AI generator tools were released.
They compare your submitted works to themselves, then to the LLMs they can access, and then perform some behind-the-scenes high-level math to develop a writer’s “fingerprint.” If your texts score above a threshold, you’re awarded the Human Writer certificate.
Authory’s platform performs these verifications every quarter, so you may get different certificates as you go, such as the Long-form Professional or the Prolific Expert. Display these on your site so clients can be assured.
Create an Outline and Get Your Client to Approve It
Take your client’s content brief or project information and give them an outline for your work. Ask them to approve it before you start writing to show the ideas and examples are yours and you’ll cite any resources as needed.
Talk to SMEs and Give Good Examples
Most AI-generated text sounds generic and uses the same examples as everyone else because it’s aggregating past information. It lacks the right context for the ideas because it doesn’t have any. By interviewing SMEs and other niche experts, you’ll make your content authentic and humanly written while including context.
Add the Human Experience
An AI generator can’t talk about when you went on vacation to Walley World and it was closed. Or how scared you were when you submitted your first client project. No matter how smart and advanced they get, AI can only do what it’s been programmed to do. Your lived experiences make your writing more human.
Go with Your Writing Flow
AI content can sound short and repetitive. It tends to overuse simple words like “it” and “the” and can display an odd preference for short sentences that don’t flow. So, add more natural transitions to your writing, or add a few more commas. Anything you think helps create a more readable and smoother piece.
Write So You Don’t Need Proof
There’s a lot of AI-generated content out there, and some of it is good. But there’s always something a little “off” about it. Sometimes, you can identify it immediately; other times, it takes a bit to figure it out. That’s why clients are searching for proof that you wrote the content you submitted, not the latest AI generator.
These tips can help you add more “you” to your content, so it’s obviously human-generated.
