The Ctrl + F of correcting AI

[carma234]

This Thread is for posting the very specific words that AI loves using to pad the word count while making the story worse. Specifically i am looking for things that editors/authors can Ctrl + F.

Ctrl + F for "like" and "the way" the AI loves to meaninglessly compare things.

I am looking for an easy Ctrl + F for the following.

In dialogue the AI prefers to "correct" previous statements with a presumably "snappy" response. A character will state something and then immediately be "corrected" with a 3 word or so response.

Edit - This thread isn't for AI bashing. I think AI has the potential to aid alot of people in bringing ideas to life if we give people the tools to fix the slop. I am not an author and don't pretend to be. This post exists only because i have through sheer reading experience noticed common things AI does and i wanted to point them out.

 

[carma234]

I don't know if it's connected but i wonder if the prevalence of "like" is a result of AI training on Social Media and Audio. Human works appear to have a usage of "Like" around 1-4 per 3k words vs AI which uses it 20+ times per 3k words.

I only mention this as it could help find other key words everyone can look for.

 

[Soupervan]

Not sure how much crossover there is but in youtube stories I've noticed a few.
They'd all love to have a cabin by the lake, often correct others that it was a choice not a mistake, picture frames rattling as people slam doors or the door slamming shut and the photo falling down with a crash and did I mention the lakeside cabins? Seriously, they're so obsessed with the things that it bears repeating, any story that needs an extra house for any reason they'll stuff a lakeside cabin in at the first opportunity.

 

[humon]

Usually a snappy correction takes the form of presenting an alternative word to the one that the other character had just used. Like a Russell conjugation. But you can't Ctrl+F for this because it's always going to be a different word.

One thing you might be able to Ctrl+F for is the phrase "There is a difference". Or variations of that phrase. AI likes to follow up those word-substitution corrections a lot by adding, "There is a difference", or "The difference is important", or "Know the difference", or something of that nature (maybe just Ctrl+F for the word "difference").

If you can use fancier queries with variables, a good pattern to search for would be one-word sentences (you'd have to search for something like: period followed by white space, then any letters, then another period with no more white space). Things like: "She always made me feel steady. Grounded. Safe."

Or you could go with the old trope and Ctrl+F for pairs of "it's not" and "it's"; or "it's not" and "just".

Oh, also you could Ctrl+F for "enough", to find patterns of "X enough to be A, Y enough to be B". I see that pattern a lot too.

 

[ForestDweller]

This Thread is for posting the very specific words that AI loves using to pad the word count while making the story worse. Specifically i am looking for things that editors/authors can Ctrl + F.

Click to shrink...

It's not that easy. Ai writing is more about cadence and style over repeated words you can just replace.

You should try Gemini 3.8 for the best prose available. But it's pretty dumb so expect a lot of mistakes in the storyline structure that you have to correct.

Personally I'll just wait until the models improve. It's not worth it to do all the extra work manually. Might as well just write it yourself.