ai-anti-patterns

The saved excerpt is a snapshot from when this skill was listed. The external source remains the complete and most current version.

---
name: ai-anti-patterns
description: ALWAYS load before finalizing ANY written prose, and whenever text is suspected of being machine-written - "does this sound like AI", "make this sound human", "clean up the AI-isms", "did a bot write this", "check this draft before I send it", "review this for AI tells", "this reads like ChatGPT", "review this for mannered prose", "is this too writerly", "is this student paper AI-generated", or before handing back any draft, memo, email, or article you wrote. Use proactively even if the user never mentions AI writing.
user-invocable: false
---

# AI Writing Anti-Patterns

**What this skill carries** — grep `references/` for any subject the names below miss:
!`d=${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}; command -v skill-toc >/dev/null 2>&1 && exec skill-toc "$d"; s=$HOME/.claude/skills/plugin-utils/bin/skill-toc; [ -x "$s" ] && exec "$s" "$d"; echo "(skill-toc unavailable: references and scripts are NOT listed here — install the plugin-utils plugin, or start a new session so its bin/ reaches PATH)"`

Field guide for detecting and revising AI-generated content indicators based on Wikipedia's "Signs of AI writing" guide.

## When to Use

Invoke this skill:
- Before finalizing ANY AI-assisted writing
- When reviewing text for AI writing indicators
- When editing content to sound more natural
- After completing writing tasks (automatic via hooks)

## The Iron Law

**Check every piece of AI-assisted writing against these patterns before submission.**

This is not optional. AI writing patterns are detectable and undermine credibility.

## Quick Screening Order

Start with the most objective indicators:

| Priority | Section | What to Check |
|----------|---------|---------------|
| 1 | ChatGPT Artifacts | `turn0search0`, `oaicite`, `contentReference` |
| 2 | Citation Problems | Hallucinated DOIs, dead links, non-existent sources |
| 3 | Prompt Refusals | "As an AI language model...", "I hope this helps" |
| 4 | Puffery | "stands as a testament to", "rich tapestry", "nestled" |
| 5 | Structure | Section summaries, "Despite challenges", rule of three |
| 6 | Mannered Prose | Metaphor where a literal phrase was available (see below) |

## Critical Patterns to Avoid

### CRITICAL Severity (Immediate Revision Required)

These patterns are unambiguous AI artifacts:

**ChatGPT-Specific Artifacts:**
- `turn0search0`, `turn1search2` (internal search references)
- `oaicite:X` (citation placeholders)
- `contentReference[oaicite:X]` (unresolved references)
- JSON attribution blocks in output

**Prompt Refusals:**
- "As an AI language model..."
- "I cannot provide..."
- "I hope this helps!"
- "I hope this email finds you well"

### HIGH Severity (Strong Revision Recommended)

**THE SHIPPED LIST IS `~/.claude/skills/ai-tic/linter/tics.yaml`, NOT THIS TABLE.** That file holds
both halves — the tics that cleared the ~0-human-rate gate against 14,294,148 sentences, and a
`rejected:` block naming the phrases that did not, so they are not re-proposed. Six phrases were
listed here as AI tells while sitting in that `rejected:` block: `serves as` (141.35/M),
`it is important to note that` (44.42/M), `plays a crucial/vital/key role` bare (21.94/M),
`delve into` bare (11.69/M), `underscores the importance` (5.93/M), and `Of course,` (386.94/M).
They are gone from the tables below and from every executable table in the repo. This is the same
correction the User-Voice section thirty lines down already made for a different list — *"Keep
these as voice preferences if you like them … Do not present them as AI detection."* — applied to
this one. To check a phrase, run `/ai-tic <phrase>`; do not add a row here.

**Puffery and Exaggeration** (those that cleared the gate):
- "stands as a testament to"
- "rich tapestry of"
- "nestled in/among"
- "the landscape of"

**Promotional Language:**
- "groundbreaking", "transformative", "revolutionary"
- "unparalleled", "unprecedented"
- "cutting-edge", "state-of-the-art"

### MEDIUM Severity (Review and Co