There’s a lot of chatter online about how to identify AI-generated content. Some of the chatter is accurate, while some of it is blatantly ridiculous. There are many AI detectors available. As you might expect, some of them work far better than others. So, what’s a seller like you to do when you want to use AI to speed up content creation but ensure that what you create still has a distinctive touch?
Humanization is the name of the game. It’s a funny word and one that any content creator using AI should know. In this article, we’ll explain how AI detectors work, what humanization is, and most importantly, how to do it.
What is an AI Detector?
Let’s start with the basics. An AI detector is a type of software that is used to determine whether content was created with the assistance of AI. In most cases, putting content through a detector will result in a percentage score that indicates the probability that the content was generated with AI.
Some examples of AI detectors include Originality.ai, Grammarly, and ZeroGPT.
How Do AI Detectors Work?
AI detectors work by scanning content for indicators that the content was written by a human or created by AI. The two primary indicators are as follows:
- Perplexity is an indication of how predictable a piece of writing is. AI-generated writing tends to be more predictable than human writing.
- Burstiness refers to the human tendency to repeat words during initial descriptions or at the beginning of content and to use them less as the writing progresses. AI may have less burstiness than human writing.
You may have also seen references to other elements of writing that people attribute to AI. Here are a few examples:
- The Oxford comma, also known as the serial comma
- The em dash
- Words such as delve or underscore, or harness
None of these things should be taken as proof that content was generated by AI. We’ve listed them here to help you understand how AI detectors work.
Are AI Detectors Accurate?
Now it’s time for the big question: do these detectors work? We wish we could provide a definitive answer, but the only response is to say that they sometimes work and sometimes don’t.
We’ve taken a single piece of writing and run it through multiple detectors. We got responses ranging from a 95% probability of AI to 100% human, with a variety of responses in between those two extremes.
The truth of the matter is that AI detectors can’t provide proof of AI usage, and some are more accurate than others. After all, most AI generation tools have used human-created content in training. Some professional writers have written thousands of blog posts, and their work has been used to train AI.
We have found Originality.ai to be a fairly reliable tool for AI detection.
What is Humanization?
Humanization is the process of taking AI-generated content and editing it to make it feel more human, which usually translates to making it more creative and less predictable.
There are humanization tools available. Like AI detectors, they can be unreliable and sometimes deliver laughable results. What’s frustrating is the fact that these tools are mostly powered by AI, which raises some important questions about whether we can or should trust AI to detect (or humanize) AI content.
Our Top Tips for Humanizing AI-Generated Content
Now, it’s time to let you in on our best tips for humanizing AI-generated content. We’re going to focus on the quickest fixes – the ones that don’t require you to go through multiple rounds of editing and rewriting.
Editing AI Content Even When It’s Good
As a rule of thumb, it’s always desirable to edit AI-generated content. You don’t want to simply copy and paste, since your content may then seem robotic or generic. You should always add an individualized touch. See the rest of our tips for hints on how to do that.
Varying Your Word Choices
One of the easiest ways to humanize AI-generated content is to make your thesaurus your friend. Using the same, predictable words multiple times is likely to set off any AI detector, so shaking things up can be helpful.
For example, if you’re writing about a birthday party, use alternative words to describe the event. It’s fine to call it a party, but you may also want to refer to it as a celebration, an event, a fete, or even a gathering.
Accentuating Burstiness
We have already talked about burstiness. When humans write, we tend to emphasize certain words and phrases early in a piece and use them less later in the content. What this translates to is avoiding overuse of some words later in a piece, whether it’s a blog post or a book, if you’ve already explained them.
A simple example might be writing a kids’ book about George Washington. You might refer to him by his full name early on and use his name less frequently after the introduction. An AI tool might continually refer to him by his full name throughout the book.
Switching Up Your Sentence Structure
AI generation often translates to repetitive sentence structure. Many sentences may have the same basic length and structure, which leads to a robotic tone.
One of our best humanization tips is to vary your sentence structure. Some sentences may be long. Others may be short. You may also decide to use connective words, passive voice, or other structures to keep AI detectors guessing.
Adding Emotion or Humor
This may change, but generative AI tools don’t really get emotion or humor. They’re not human! That means adding these things can help set your writing apart and make it seem more human than not.
Keep in mind that adding humor or emotion can also lead to greater perplexity and more varied word choices. These things all work together to humanize AI-generated content.
Be Human and Humanize!
Humanization isn’t difficult, but it does require some care and attention. The tips we’ve provided here can help you avoid the predictability of generic content. Spending just a few minutes refining your content can make all the difference.
Are you in the market for a content-generating tool that can help you create everything from blogs to educational printables? Check out QueContent Composer today!
