8 prose patterns everyone calls AI slop are actually rhetorical tools with centuries of evidence behind them. Here's the diagnostic system that tells you which ones to keep.
Mia, thank you for this. The incredible depth of your knowledge across literature and music is such an important angle for this kind of analysis. Syncopation is one of my favs 🥰
hahah been working on this one for the past 2 weeks! just yesterday it hit me that I could ask everyone so I’m not just rambling by myself 🤣 I’m not THAT talented to be able to turn a chat into a full post (YET)
I think you mean “born”. Your meaning is: the post was not born from the chat, but perhaps catalyzed by it, yes? So it should be: “Oh, I see — so not born, but perhaps catalyzed.” Or, if not certain, “…so born but perhaps catalyzed?”
Borne would only work if you meant carried, endured, or supported:
The argument was borne by evidence.
The burden was borne by the writer.
The claim was borne out by the facts.
Here, you are talking about origin, not support or confirmation. 💁
Thank you so much for writing this, Mia. As a strong proponent of binary contrasts and the rule of three, this is a great relief. I know we have tried about this at length, but for me the real sign of AI slop is not even necessarily when people use AI to modify their writing, but when they fail to stand behind the output at the end. 🙏
You always go back to the thing that matters most and I appreciate it everytime :)
I think a lot of the slop problem comes from people treating AI output as done instead of as draft. The moment you stop reading your own work critically is the moment it stops being yours, regardless of who or what wrote the first version.
Yes it’s very frustrating to read the “tells” and realizing that’s how I’ve always written. It’s infuriating that Ai was most likely modeled after my highschool tumblr (and the like) but now in my 30’s people will think robots wrote my work. 😭
This is a really interesting perspective. And as someone who's worked as an editor for years, I've been ruining about this a lot. It was very funny when all of a sudden I went from adding em dashes on everyone's articles to removing them where they were misplaced 😅
But, I am in the camp of reducing them as much as possible. I find myself removing the common AI structures quite a lot, and trying to find a different way of phrasing it. I don't actually care whether someone thinks I use AI for my writing, because I know I don't. But I don't want people thinking about whether my words were written with AI rather than just absorbing my words. I also think there is a loss of effect when something becomes a cliche.
With that said, the AI detectives are often as ridiculous as the ones who use AI without editing. It's never just an instance of a structure that makes something slop. It's the repetition of several patterns in a row.
Yeah, so I tend to also want to reduce them as much as possible because reading and working so much with AI, it feels like they're literally all over. But I'm also trying not to exaggerate with that, because, like you said in your last sentence and like I said in my article, it's really just the patterns of how you use them and the instances where you literally say nothing of value. Claude, especially, LOVES to add so much fluff through these patterns haha.
Mia! I love this post and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the reference to Rite of Spring. As a classical musician (and music major for two degrees) of course the story of that piece was a focus in our history courses. I've played the piece several times (once with the Chicago Symphony) and all the times I was absolutely f-ing terrified because the rhythms are SO HARD. SO F-ING DANG HARD. It's like trying to run along a moving train and jump on... sometimes you won't make it... and you feel like that for about one hour. It's set up to make you fall into a hole if you don't count correctly (everyone rests at the same time in some parts) so if you miscount EVERYONE KNOWS IT WAS YOUR FAULT that someone played in the silence. (ok so I have some trauma, I admit it 😂 )
BUT I digress... back to the piece. You nailed it. This is just part of our history. I will say, using the Stravinsky piece as an example is sharing that the audience freaked out because the piece is everything OTHER than 4/4. The AI is GIVING US boring old 4/4 constantly. It's like we all accepted Stravinsky and the others who came after it as artistic, new, cutting edge. Then AI arrived and gave us all Mozart and Haydn as the only option 😂
I simply love how you described it. It's more nuanced than "just delete all instances of AI patterns". This is about being discerning and choosing what works. I love how you said the set of three actually puts ideas into your head that weren't going to be there anyway (as the reader). That inspired a post I wrote about AI controlling your brain. lol
So all that long-winded way to say this is a must-read for anyone using AI to write. 🏆
You PLAYED it with the Chicago Symphony. I'm not okay. 😂
And YESSS AI arrived and gave us all Mozart and Haydn as the only option - this is honestly a better summary of this entire post than my subtitle.
Hinestly I did have my fair share of anxiety during my piano years because of the freakin' counting. I mostly had solo auditions but then again, that's easy to spot too 🤣 Smaller stakes than Chicago Symphony. Same panic.
Also, please send me that post you wrote, I need to read it ❤️
😂 the first time I played with them I remember driving home and literally pinching myself. Like I tried that (it just hurt, though 😂 ) it was such an honor every time I did it (talk about feeling like an imposter! haha)
I wonder what would happen if we trained AI on some syncopated music rhythms to see what happens with its writing? Like, how the Rite of Spring was the first moment, and then many other much crazier things came after that... we need to culture Claude! 😆
Brilliant breakdown of the "rhythm vs. autopilot" debate. You’ve perfectly articulated why the current trend of banning specific words and structures often backfires, stripping the soul out of writing instead of saving it. This is a must-read for anyone trying to maintain an authentic voice in the age of LLMs! It can be so difficult at times :P
Interesting. I just wrote a piece that centered around Berlioz. That was quite scandalous as well. However, we may have different opinions. Not on the writing, I found this essay you wrote quite delightful to read. It covers some serious ground.
On Stravinsky, ah yes, the syncopation, did you have to conduct it at all? The string quartets, omg. I have never gone so insane from maintaining motion.
And that moves us to the writing. I learned how to write long before AI. Semicolons, and em dashes are just how I write. It comes from Musical cadence. Antecedent vs consequence phrasing.
I find my writing to be rhetorically amped from AI, simply from a world where we were forced to study things like the Lexicon of Musical Invective by Slonimsky.
Great piece. Really enjoyed the linguistic lessons and defense of our craft.
But I have an admitted bias that comes from decades of using words to drive response and being held accountable for the results: I care how my words land. Their provenance not so much.
If readers have been trained by years of AI slop to twitch at certain AI tells, I don't care if God himself blasted multiple em-dashes into the 10 Commandments. I'll say it dashlessly. And better.
First, you need to detect that writing is, in fact, generated by AI. Assuming that you have not encountered a world-class AI Engineer who specialized in teaching an AI to writing as-good or better than humans then you .... Oh. Perhaps I've given away too much already.
I would LOVE to connect with others on this very topic.
Likewise. Seems we share a similar goal there. I enjoy teaching AI to write. I always try to follow and defend others who are doing the same thing. Mine is a search for historical authenticity.
I used emdashes often pre-llm in my quasi-technical writing. Now I do a pass to see if the emdashes are earned. The prompt is: are all emdashes earned?
I wrote this very thing almost exactly a few months ago. When every sentence tries to punch, nothing punches. Except I said hits instead of punches. I considered changing the way I write to some degree then decided, I don’t write like AI. AI writes like me, and my writing is pretty damn good. Great article.
Mia, thank you for this. The incredible depth of your knowledge across literature and music is such an important angle for this kind of analysis. Syncopation is one of my favs 🥰
Thank you so much Rebecca :) means so much coming from a language expert. I’m not lying when I tell you I absolutely DISSECT all your content 🤣❤️
🙈I’ll allow it from you 🥰
yaaaaay ❤️❤️❤️
Love that you blew out a chat into a post… and reading this gave me the whole synopsis (and then some) after air dropping in and out. Bravo 👏
hahah been working on this one for the past 2 weeks! just yesterday it hit me that I could ask everyone so I’m not just rambling by myself 🤣 I’m not THAT talented to be able to turn a chat into a full post (YET)
Oh I see … so not borne but perhaps catalyzed. Whatever the method, still fun and low key genius.
It reads effortlessly - even if there was a wrestle!!
oooh catalyzed, I like that :)
Also, thank you! And thanks for chiming in and giving me permission to leverage your knowledge ❤️😅
I changed my restack note to be more accurate… catalyzed!
I think you mean “born”. Your meaning is: the post was not born from the chat, but perhaps catalyzed by it, yes? So it should be: “Oh, I see — so not born, but perhaps catalyzed.” Or, if not certain, “…so born but perhaps catalyzed?”
Borne would only work if you meant carried, endured, or supported:
The argument was borne by evidence.
The burden was borne by the writer.
The claim was borne out by the facts.
Here, you are talking about origin, not support or confirmation. 💁
I always get those two mixed up. And prob still will! I was borne to. Just kidding.
😉
Thank you so much for writing this, Mia. As a strong proponent of binary contrasts and the rule of three, this is a great relief. I know we have tried about this at length, but for me the real sign of AI slop is not even necessarily when people use AI to modify their writing, but when they fail to stand behind the output at the end. 🙏
You always go back to the thing that matters most and I appreciate it everytime :)
I think a lot of the slop problem comes from people treating AI output as done instead of as draft. The moment you stop reading your own work critically is the moment it stops being yours, regardless of who or what wrote the first version.
This is such a great topic and I love hearing what everyone had to say on the matter!!
It was a fun one to write! Thank you so much for sharing your experience 🥰🥰
The court of the robots has spoken! 🤖
Hahaha they have opinions 👀
Yes it’s very frustrating to read the “tells” and realizing that’s how I’ve always written. It’s infuriating that Ai was most likely modeled after my highschool tumblr (and the like) but now in my 30’s people will think robots wrote my work. 😭
okay, you mentioned Tumblr, I’m now fangirling 🤣🤣 I think Tumblr circa 2010-2011 shaped how an entire generation writes online ❤️
EXACTLY! And now I’m over here deleting my beloved em dashes out of fear. 😭
Fight the fear!! 🤣
I have been accused of being a bot becuase of an em dash — I told them em dashes are for people too!
EXACTLY!!!
I’m with you!
This is a really interesting perspective. And as someone who's worked as an editor for years, I've been ruining about this a lot. It was very funny when all of a sudden I went from adding em dashes on everyone's articles to removing them where they were misplaced 😅
But, I am in the camp of reducing them as much as possible. I find myself removing the common AI structures quite a lot, and trying to find a different way of phrasing it. I don't actually care whether someone thinks I use AI for my writing, because I know I don't. But I don't want people thinking about whether my words were written with AI rather than just absorbing my words. I also think there is a loss of effect when something becomes a cliche.
With that said, the AI detectives are often as ridiculous as the ones who use AI without editing. It's never just an instance of a structure that makes something slop. It's the repetition of several patterns in a row.
Yeah, so I tend to also want to reduce them as much as possible because reading and working so much with AI, it feels like they're literally all over. But I'm also trying not to exaggerate with that, because, like you said in your last sentence and like I said in my article, it's really just the patterns of how you use them and the instances where you literally say nothing of value. Claude, especially, LOVES to add so much fluff through these patterns haha.
Appreciate you chiming in! ❤️
Your writing makes me weep in gratitude. You teach, illuminate and point the way all at the same time. 🎉
wow THANK YOU Rhonda. This is such a beautiful message! ❤️❤️❤️
It’s true. I read you above anyone else because you make me think. And then you generously point me the way…
I appreciate this and you so much! 🙏
Mia! I love this post and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the reference to Rite of Spring. As a classical musician (and music major for two degrees) of course the story of that piece was a focus in our history courses. I've played the piece several times (once with the Chicago Symphony) and all the times I was absolutely f-ing terrified because the rhythms are SO HARD. SO F-ING DANG HARD. It's like trying to run along a moving train and jump on... sometimes you won't make it... and you feel like that for about one hour. It's set up to make you fall into a hole if you don't count correctly (everyone rests at the same time in some parts) so if you miscount EVERYONE KNOWS IT WAS YOUR FAULT that someone played in the silence. (ok so I have some trauma, I admit it 😂 )
BUT I digress... back to the piece. You nailed it. This is just part of our history. I will say, using the Stravinsky piece as an example is sharing that the audience freaked out because the piece is everything OTHER than 4/4. The AI is GIVING US boring old 4/4 constantly. It's like we all accepted Stravinsky and the others who came after it as artistic, new, cutting edge. Then AI arrived and gave us all Mozart and Haydn as the only option 😂
I simply love how you described it. It's more nuanced than "just delete all instances of AI patterns". This is about being discerning and choosing what works. I love how you said the set of three actually puts ideas into your head that weren't going to be there anyway (as the reader). That inspired a post I wrote about AI controlling your brain. lol
So all that long-winded way to say this is a must-read for anyone using AI to write. 🏆
You PLAYED it with the Chicago Symphony. I'm not okay. 😂
And YESSS AI arrived and gave us all Mozart and Haydn as the only option - this is honestly a better summary of this entire post than my subtitle.
Hinestly I did have my fair share of anxiety during my piano years because of the freakin' counting. I mostly had solo auditions but then again, that's easy to spot too 🤣 Smaller stakes than Chicago Symphony. Same panic.
Also, please send me that post you wrote, I need to read it ❤️
😂 the first time I played with them I remember driving home and literally pinching myself. Like I tried that (it just hurt, though 😂 ) it was such an honor every time I did it (talk about feeling like an imposter! haha)
I wonder what would happen if we trained AI on some syncopated music rhythms to see what happens with its writing? Like, how the Rite of Spring was the first moment, and then many other much crazier things came after that... we need to culture Claude! 😆
That'd be SO AWESOME to do! Give it like... 1 year maybe 🤣
Brilliant breakdown of the "rhythm vs. autopilot" debate. You’ve perfectly articulated why the current trend of banning specific words and structures often backfires, stripping the soul out of writing instead of saving it. This is a must-read for anyone trying to maintain an authentic voice in the age of LLMs! It can be so difficult at times :P
Thank you so much Raghav :) and for chiming in with your valuable experience! I should've added the "in the AI age..." one 🤣
Interesting. I just wrote a piece that centered around Berlioz. That was quite scandalous as well. However, we may have different opinions. Not on the writing, I found this essay you wrote quite delightful to read. It covers some serious ground.
On Stravinsky, ah yes, the syncopation, did you have to conduct it at all? The string quartets, omg. I have never gone so insane from maintaining motion.
And that moves us to the writing. I learned how to write long before AI. Semicolons, and em dashes are just how I write. It comes from Musical cadence. Antecedent vs consequence phrasing.
I find my writing to be rhetorically amped from AI, simply from a world where we were forced to study things like the Lexicon of Musical Invective by Slonimsky.
In any case, I enjoyed the read.
Haha, good point on Stravisnky! :)
Thank you so much for reading 🙏🏻
Great piece. Really enjoyed the linguistic lessons and defense of our craft.
But I have an admitted bias that comes from decades of using words to drive response and being held accountable for the results: I care how my words land. Their provenance not so much.
If readers have been trained by years of AI slop to twitch at certain AI tells, I don't care if God himself blasted multiple em-dashes into the 10 Commandments. I'll say it dashlessly. And better.
Haha GOOD! ❤️
Thank you so much for reading David! 🤗
You’re welcome. Thanks for making it such a pleasure to read!
First, you need to detect that writing is, in fact, generated by AI. Assuming that you have not encountered a world-class AI Engineer who specialized in teaching an AI to writing as-good or better than humans then you .... Oh. Perhaps I've given away too much already.
I would LOVE to connect with others on this very topic.
Hu Peter, so good to meet you! :)
Likewise. Seems we share a similar goal there. I enjoy teaching AI to write. I always try to follow and defend others who are doing the same thing. Mine is a search for historical authenticity.
Oh Mia, this is SO GOOD!
awwww thank youuuuu ❤️
I used emdashes often pre-llm in my quasi-technical writing. Now I do a pass to see if the emdashes are earned. The prompt is: are all emdashes earned?
Perfect prompt!
I wrote this very thing almost exactly a few months ago. When every sentence tries to punch, nothing punches. Except I said hits instead of punches. I considered changing the way I write to some degree then decided, I don’t write like AI. AI writes like me, and my writing is pretty damn good. Great article.
I liked this :) - AI writes like me, and my writing is pretty damn good.
Thank you for reading!!
pleasure