7 Editing Rules That Make AI Content Sound Human

AI content feels generic for one reason: it gets published without the human 30%. The draft is not the product — the edit is. These seven rules are the editing pass I run on every AI-assisted piece, and they are why readers cannot tell which of my posts started life in Claude.

Rule 1: Replace Every Generic Claim With a Number

AI writes "this saves significant time." You write "this cut my drafting time from 3 hours to 40 minutes." Specificity is the fastest credibility signal — and the one thing AI cannot invent for you, because the numbers come from your work.

Rule 2: Insert One Real Moment

Generic: "Many founders struggle with consistency." Human: "A founder I worked with in March had 14 half-written posts in his drafts folder and zero published."

One concrete moment per piece is usually enough to anchor the whole thing in reality.

Rule 3: Delete the AI Tells

Certain words and patterns scream machine. Cut on sight:

• —"delve", "leverage" (as a verb for everything), "robust", "seamless", "elevate"
• —"In today's fast-paced world…" and any opening that gestures at the era
• —Perfectly symmetric sentence pairs ("It's not just X. It's Y.") more than once per piece
• —Triplet lists in every paragraph — vary the rhythm

Rule 4: Break the Symmetry

AI loves balanced sentences of equal length. Humans write in bursts. Short. Then a longer sentence that takes its time making one point properly. Read your draft aloud; wherever the rhythm feels metronomic, merge two sentences or chop one in half.

Rule 5: Take a Side

AI drafts hedge: "it depends on your situation" appears somewhere in almost every output. Your edit: pick the answer you actually believe and say it. "For solo consultants, LinkedIn beats a blog. Start there." Opinions are the part of writing AI cannot do for you — they are also the part audiences remember.

Rule 6: Cut the First Paragraph

Nine times out of ten, AI warms up before saying anything. The piece usually starts at paragraph two. Cut the throat-clearing and open with the most useful sentence in the draft.

Rule 7: End With a Point, Not a Summary

AI conclusions restate the article ("In conclusion, by following these steps…"). Delete that. End with the one thing you want the reader to do or remember — a sharp final line beats a recap every time.

The 10-Minute Edit Checklist

1. —Numbers in? (Rule 1)
2. —One real moment? (Rule 2)
3. —Tell-words deleted? (Rule 3)
4. —Rhythm varied? (Rule 4)
5. —At least one opinion stated plainly? (Rule 5)
6. —First paragraph earned its place? (Rule 6)
7. —Ending lands a point? (Rule 7)

Ten minutes per piece. That is the entire gap between "obviously AI" and "how do you write so much?"

FAQ

Can readers really tell AI content? They rarely identify it explicitly — they just feel it as "forgettable" and scroll past. The tells register subconsciously.

Should I disclose AI use? The work is yours: your ideas, your voice rules, your editing. Disclosure norms vary by field; what is non-negotiable is that the claims and examples are true and yours.

Do AI detectors matter? They are unreliable in both directions. Optimize for reader trust, not detector scores.

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