This insights post is a summary of the blog post published by Beutler Ink. View the full insight at: How to Spot AI Writing, According to Wikipedia.
Wikipedia editors have catalogued thousands of AI-generated submissions to identify patterns that reveal when text was ghostwritten by large language models in a page called Signs of AI Writing. William Beutler, founder of Beutler Ink and Wikipedia and digital reputation strategist, distilled these patterns into recognizable signals that appear across marketing copy, business emails, and professional content.
The source material—Wikipedia’s “Signs of AI writing” advice page—runs nearly 15,000 words and exhaustively documents every telltale indication that content was AI-generated. While created specifically for Wikipedia editors, the patterns apply wherever text appears online.
7 Patterns That Reveal AI Authorship
- Negative parallelisms: “It’s not X, it’s Y.” As in: “It’s not a product launch. It’s a paradigm shift.”
- Rule of threes: “Innovative, transformative, and groundbreaking.” AI defaults to triplets when listing anything: adjectives, benefits, takeaways.
- Em dash overkill: Deployed for punchy emphasis where a comma would do—like this. This is probably the most infamous tell, and woe to anyone who likes inserting subordinate clauses.
- Formatting overkill: Excessive bolding of key terms like everything is a damn textbook.
- AI vocabulary: RIP words like: delve, intricate, tapestry, pivotal, underscore, landscape, foster, testament, enhance, crucial.
- False ranges: “From intimate gatherings to global movements.” The structure implies a spectrum, but there’s no actual spectrum.
- Compulsive summaries: “Overall,” “In conclusion”. I.e, the tendency to restate what was just said.
To get more insights on these patterns and the telltale signs of AI writing, you can read the full post at: How to Spot AI Writing, According to Wikipedia.
