How to Beat A.I. At Writing
A few simple ways to let your readers know that a human wrote your article.
Warm tidings from an independent author. To begin with, I’m not going to tell you to improve your grammar, punctuation, or spelling. Editors need jobs too. Instead, I will give you some tips to help differentiate your writing and never have it be mistaken for artificial intelligence.
Right off the bat I gave an example. That first sentence is not something I would normally say, and it’s not a typical phrase these days. It’s very likely that AI would never write something like that. Not that you need to change your vernacular or style of writing.
In fact, those are two things that will help to give your work a unique voice. For some context, it is known that AI is capable of writing an essay that only ten percent of us are capable of matching or outmatching.
I like to think that I’m one of those ten percent, but AI is exponentially improving, and will soon be able to outperform a human brain in computational prowess. However, there will always be ways to make your work unmistakably human.
Unique Words
As a science fiction and fantasy writer, I am frequently making up words. Fiction writers will always have this advantage, but it doesn’t have to end there. Any type of writing could have one or more unique words, and they don’t have to be nonsense words.
For example, in one of my work-in-progress fantasy books, I coined the term, ‘dockslums’. It’s a very self-explanatory word, but it always has a red, squiggly line underneath it. I’ve looked it up, and Google has no answers. I can safely assume that AI would never use the word. That is, until it gains the intelligence to infer a definition via context, and even then, it may still never use it.
Another example would be: I write a blog on Author’s Den where I occasionally make up silly words like, ‘anywhose’ that I use to begin the final paragraph. I plan to do it more often now, but it’s a good way to make up words.
I listed this one first as I feel that it’s the easiest to accomplish. Aside from unique names, there are plenty of ways to come up with unique words to let your readers know that a human wrote it.
Unique Phrases, Colloquialisms, and Euphemisms
Another way to make your writing stand out is to come up with a unique phrase. Maybe it’s like the first line of this article or a way that you say goodbye to your readers. Some kind of unique phrase that only you know.
After a time, though, I do believe AI would begin to pick up on this and maybe even see it as a trend, quickly jumping onto that bandwagon. It would be wise to change it up now and then.
It would be good to include a character that is like a southerner whom tend to use colloquialisms and euphemisms quite frequently. Maybe that’s the only way they speak. Challenge accepted….lol
Alternate Punctuation, Text Emojis, and Shorthand
In case you didn’t notice, that ellipsis had four periods instead of three. It’s something I like to do for blogs and memes, especially for attaching the text emojis I use like the one in the meme below. I know they’re outdated, but if you can make a unique one, people might like it. Mine was inspired by Slash who used to use one, and when I can, I use Segoe Print Bold which looks awesome like on this meme:
I also used shorthand in that sentence, which is something that I’m not sure that AI would use. At least not in the way that I did, and for blogs and such, it’s totally okay to use that with some discretion. You don’t want to use it too much.
Acronyms and Synonyms
Yes, I know I said, “acronyms” and not antonyms. Acronyms are great because they can be easy to make. Much like the shorthand I mentioned before, which is mostly acronyms, it is unlikely that AI would use it.
It doesn’t even have to make a word. If it’s something to which you refer to often in your writing(s), then make an acronym of it. As AI will most likely be the greatest Vulcan to ever live, it’s likely that it will never use this method, preferring to make things as legible as possible. It’s only logical.
Now, for synonyms, I mention this as, not only a tip for beating AI, but it will improve your writing as well. That is, don’t keep using the same word to describe something. For instance, say you have a wizard’s tower in your story. You could also refer to it as, ‘a spire of spells’, or, ‘the mage’s mansion’. You don’t have to keep calling it the same name.
In essence, the English language has the most synonyms from which to choose, so don’t keep using the same word to describe the same thing.
Summation
In summary, I’ve also just described several reasons why the English language is the most powerful tool for writing, creatively speaking. There are so many ways to say one thing, and as humans, we need every edge we can get to succeed against something that will eventually outwit us at every turn.
Not to mention competing with the plethora of writers borne of the lockdown. I published my first book just prior to it.
Thank you so much for reading. Please consider recommending my substack. I hope you imagine having a wonderful day….[[|:-)