AI can produce 80% of a good piece of writing. The remaining 20% — the editorial pass — is what separates published-and-respected from published-and-ignored. Here is the exact editorial checklist for making AI content sound human.
Most people read AI drafts once and ship them. The AI tells survive. Readers spot them. Credibility takes a hit.
The fix is a structured editorial pass that hunts specific patterns. With practice, this takes 10 minutes per 1000 words and produces dramatically better output.
Pass 1: Hunt the openers. Most AI articles start with "In today's rapidly evolving landscape" or similar. Open with something specific instead — a moment, a stat, a contrarian claim.
Pass 2: Hunt filler phrases. "It is important to note." "It is worth mentioning." "It should be noted that." Delete every instance.
Pass 3: Hunt buzzwords. Leverage. Transform. Synergize. Navigate. Robust. Innovative. Each instance gets rewritten or cut.
Pass 4: Add a specific. Anywhere the writing is generic, inject a specific number, name, or story. AI cannot manufacture these — you have to add them.
Pass 5: Vary sentence rhythm. AI tends to medium-length declarative sentences. Insert short sentences. Then occasionally a longer one. Variety is what makes prose feel human.
Pass 6: Read aloud. Anywhere it sounds like a corporate brochure, rewrite. Anywhere it sounds like a person you would trust, leave it.
BEFORE (AI default): "In today's rapidly evolving landscape, it is important for businesses to leverage AI to transform their operations and stay competitive."
AFTER (edited): "Most B2B companies are losing 15-20% of their potential output to workflows AI could compress in 60 days. The ones who fix this in 2026 pull ahead. The ones who wait spend 2027 catching up."
The second version has: a specific number, a real prediction, a stake, and no AI tells. Same length. Dramatically different credibility.
Do not strip all rhythm. AI sometimes produces good sentences. Keep them.
Do not inject quirks for the sake of sounding human. Forced quirks read worse than competent AI.
Do not make every sentence different. Real writing has patterns. Variation matters; uniqueness for every line does not.