AI-Written Check
Scan human-facing prose for the mechanical patterns that signal machine authorship, and propose a concrete rewrite for each. This is a prose check — it looks at sentence mechanics and word choice, not at tone or positioning (that is the cringe-check skill).
What this is for. This is not about hiding that AI was involved. It assumes the healthy case: you're collaborating with Claude to refine, expand, or draft your own writing. The job is to keep the result aligned with your intent and your voice — so the words still sound like you wrote them, not like a model smoothed them into generic copy. None of these skills are for making AI do the writing for you.
How to run it
- Read the copy once for sense.
- Walk the checklist below. For every hit, output: the rule name, the offending text quoted, and a specific rewrite — not just "this sounds AI."
- Respect the thresholds. Some patterns are fine once and only become a tell when repeated. Count occurrences before flagging.
- End with a one-line verdict: clean, light touch-up, or heavy.
Never flag without a rewrite. The point is to fix the prose, not to label it.
The checklist
| Tell |
Threshold |
Fix |
| Em dash (—) |
The #1 tell. Flag almost every one in body copy. |
Period, colon (sparingly), or a shorter sentence. Acceptable only as a structural separator in a header. |
| Triple-list anaphora ("about money, about trust, about control") |
1 per page is fine; 2+ is a tell. |
Cut to a single clause or break into separate sentences. |
| "Not X, but Y" / "X, not Y" antithetical pairs |
1 per piece is fine; more is a tell. |
State the point directly without the contrast scaffold. |
| Spatial metaphors for abstract concepts ("corners of their financial lives", "the territory of taxes", "the current frontier") |
Flag each. |
Use the concrete noun the metaphor is standing in for. |
| Economic/cost metaphors for non-economic things ("make rigor the cheap option", "the time tax", "the heavy lift") |
Flag each. |
Say the literal thing. |
| "Architect" as a verb |
Flag each. |
"Design" or "build." |
| "Across" overuse ("across the funnel", "across products", "across teams") |
Flag clusters. |
Name the specific thing, or drop the word. |
| "From X to Y to Z" career/idea arcs |
Flag when a plainer sentence works. |
Rewrite as a direct sentence. |
| Engineered sentence cadence (deliberate alternation of very short and very long sentences) |
Flag when the rhythm feels manufactured. |
Let sentence length follow meaning, not a beat. |
| Voice-register swerve |
Flag any paragraph that opens concrete-and-human and pivots to abstract industry-speak. |
Stay in one register; the swerve is the tell. |
| Builder/startup subculture slang ("vibe coding", "shipping", "hot takes", "cracked at") |
Flag each in formal copy. |
A neutral substance-equivalent term. |
| Unfalsifiable universal claims ("everyone", "all", "every", "universally", "across the board") |
Question each. |
Scope it to the specific people/context actually observed. "Affects everyone" is itself an AI-pitch tell. |
| Sincerity adverbs ("honestly", "quietly", "genuinely", "truly", "frankly" as dressing) |
Flag each. |
Delete the adverb; if the sentence loses nothing, it was a tell. |
| Generic placeholder / template copy (fill-in-the-blank headers, "Welcome to my portfolio", "I'm passionate about X", boilerplate section intros that could belong to anyone) |
Flag each. |
Replace with something specific and true to the author — their actual words, project, or point of view. Filler that "isn't the vibe" is a tell that the line was generated, not authored. |
Why these matter
These patterns are how a reader's pattern-matcher flips to "a model wrote this." Most are individually harmless — the damage is density. One em dash is invisible; six is a signature. Apply the thresholds rather than nuking every instance, or the rewrite reads as over-corrected.
For the full catalog with worked before/after examples and edge cases, see references/TELLS.md.
What this skill does NOT do
- It does not judge tone, arrogance, or positioning — use
cringe-check.
- It does not verify facts or claims — that belongs to a full review (
full-review).
- It does not rewrite wholesale. It flags and proposes; the author decides.
Register extensions
references/TELLS.md is the core catalog for every register. If a register is resolved (see full-review: .red-pen/profile.md → ask once → default job-seeker), also apply the tells under its ## AI-tell extensions — for publication that adds engineered contrast constructions, stock AI vocabulary, false-balance closers, symmetrical paragraph engineering, and restating summary paragraphs. Report core and extension hits under one heading; note which register supplied each extension.
1---2name: ai-written-check3description: Detects the mechanical tells that make professional prose read as AI-generated — em dashes, triple-list anaphora, "not X but Y" antithetical pairs, spatial and economic metaphors for abstract ideas, "architect" as a verb, engineered sentence cadence, mid-paragraph register swerves, builder/startup slang, sincerity adverbs ("honestly", "quietly"), and unfalsifiable universal claims ("everyone", "across the board"). Use when reviewing or editing a resume, cover letter, portfolio page, case study, proposal, bio, or any human-facing copy, or when the user asks for an "AI-written check", "AI tells", says copy "sounds like AI", or asks to make writing sound less generated.4---56# AI-Written Check78Scan human-facing prose for the mechanical patterns that signal machine authorship, and propose a concrete rewrite for each. This is a *prose* check — it looks at sentence mechanics and word choice, not at tone or positioning (that is the `cringe-check` skill).910**What this is for.** This is not about hiding that AI was involved. It assumes the healthy case: you're collaborating with Claude to refine, expand, or draft your own writing. The job is to keep the result *aligned with your intent and your voice* — so the words still sound like you wrote them, not like a model smoothed them into generic copy. None of these skills are for making AI do the writing for you.1112## How to run it13141. Read the copy once for sense.152. Walk the checklist below. For every hit, output: the **rule name**, the **offending text quoted**, and a **specific rewrite** — not just "this sounds AI."163. Respect the thresholds. Some patterns are fine once and only become a tell when repeated. Count occurrences before flagging.174. End with a one-line verdict: clean, light touch-up, or heavy.1819Never flag without a rewrite. The point is to fix the prose, not to label it.2021## The checklist2223| Tell | Threshold | Fix |24|------|-----------|-----|25| **Em dash (—)** | The #1 tell. Flag almost every one in body copy. | Period, colon (sparingly), or a shorter sentence. Acceptable only as a structural separator in a header. |26| **Triple-list anaphora** ("about money, about trust, about control") | 1 per page is fine; 2+ is a tell. | Cut to a single clause or break into separate sentences. |27| **"Not X, but Y" / "X, not Y"** antithetical pairs | 1 per piece is fine; more is a tell. | State the point directly without the contrast scaffold. |28| **Spatial metaphors for abstract concepts** ("corners of their financial lives", "the territory of taxes", "the current frontier") | Flag each. | Use the concrete noun the metaphor is standing in for. |29| **Economic/cost metaphors for non-economic things** ("make rigor the cheap option", "the time tax", "the heavy lift") | Flag each. | Say the literal thing. |30| **"Architect" as a verb** | Flag each. | "Design" or "build." |31| **"Across" overuse** ("across the funnel", "across products", "across teams") | Flag clusters. | Name the specific thing, or drop the word. |32| **"From X to Y to Z" career/idea arcs** | Flag when a plainer sentence works. | Rewrite as a direct sentence. |33| **Engineered sentence cadence** (deliberate alternation of very short and very long sentences) | Flag when the rhythm feels manufactured. | Let sentence length follow meaning, not a beat. |34| **Voice-register swerve** | Flag any paragraph that opens concrete-and-human and pivots to abstract industry-speak. | Stay in one register; the swerve is the tell. |35| **Builder/startup subculture slang** ("vibe coding", "shipping", "hot takes", "cracked at") | Flag each in formal copy. | A neutral substance-equivalent term. |36| **Unfalsifiable universal claims** ("everyone", "all", "every", "universally", "across the board") | Question each. | Scope it to the specific people/context actually observed. "Affects everyone" is itself an AI-pitch tell. |37| **Sincerity adverbs** ("honestly", "quietly", "genuinely", "truly", "frankly" as dressing) | Flag each. | Delete the adverb; if the sentence loses nothing, it was a tell. |38| **Generic placeholder / template copy** (fill-in-the-blank headers, "Welcome to my portfolio", "I'm passionate about X", boilerplate section intros that could belong to anyone) | Flag each. | Replace with something specific and true to the author — their actual words, project, or point of view. Filler that "isn't the vibe" is a tell that the line was generated, not authored. |3940## Why these matter4142These patterns are how a reader's pattern-matcher flips to "a model wrote this." Most are individually harmless — the damage is *density*. One em dash is invisible; six is a signature. Apply the thresholds rather than nuking every instance, or the rewrite reads as over-corrected.4344For the full catalog with worked before/after examples and edge cases, see `references/TELLS.md`.4546## What this skill does NOT do4748- It does not judge tone, arrogance, or positioning — use `cringe-check`.49- It does not verify facts or claims — that belongs to a full review (`full-review`).50- It does not rewrite wholesale. It flags and proposes; the author decides.5152## Register extensions5354`references/TELLS.md` is the core catalog for every register. If a register is resolved (see `full-review`: `.red-pen/profile.md` → ask once → default `job-seeker`), also apply the tells under its `## AI-tell extensions` — for `publication` that adds engineered contrast constructions, stock AI vocabulary, false-balance closers, symmetrical paragraph engineering, and restating summary paragraphs. Report core and extension hits under one heading; note which register supplied each extension.
cabbagecachekid