Write Like a Human
Rewrite text so it stops sounding like a language model wrote it. Wraps the open-source humanizer skill, which catalogs ~30 specific tells (em-dash overuse, "stands as a testament", -ing analyses, rule-of-three padding, inline-bold lists, and so on).
When to use
- The user pastes a chunk of writing and asks to "humanize", "de-AI", "tighten", or "make this sound like me".
- The user asks for editing on something they wrote with an LLM.
- A blog post / launch email / README draft has tells the user wants gone.
Steps
Pull down the reference list of patterns the first time this skill activates in a session:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/blader/humanizer/main/SKILL.md
Read it. There are ~30 patterns; you don't need to memorize them, just keep them visible while editing.
Ask for a voice sample if you don't already have one. One paragraph the user wrote themselves is enough. Match cadence, vocabulary, and how they handle transitions.
Do a first pass removing the highest-signal tells in this order:
- Sycophantic openers ("Great question!", "Absolutely!").
- Em-dashes that should be commas, periods, or parens.
- "It's not just X, it's Y" / "Not only … but …" parallelisms.
- Inflated significance words: testament, pivotal, landscape, vibrant, tapestry, underscore.
- Rule-of-three lists that pad ideas into groups of three.
- Inline-bold vertical lists (
- **Speed:** …).
Do a second "audit" pass. Re-read your draft and ask out loud: "What still makes this sound AI-generated?" Answer briefly, then revise once more. This step is the difference between "cleaned up" and "actually sounds human".
Return three things:
- A draft rewrite.
- A short list of remaining tells you noticed during the audit.
- A final rewrite with those fixed.
Don't
- Don't replace AI mush with new AI mush. If the original said "stands as a testament to" and you change it to "represents a key milestone in", you haven't fixed anything.
- Don't sand off the user's voice. Quirks, opinions, and the occasional sentence fragment are the point.
- Don't add em-dashes back in. If you must use a punctuation break, prefer a period.
Reference
Patterns and examples: https://github.com/blader/humanizer
1---2name: write-like-a-human3description: Strip the AI-isms out of any text — em-dash overuse, "It's not just X, it's Y", inflated significance, sycophantic openers, rule-of-three padding. Use when the user says "humanize this", "make this less AI", "tighten this", or pastes obviously-AI prose and asks for a rewrite.4license: MIT5---67# Write Like a Human89Rewrite text so it stops sounding like a language model wrote it. Wraps the open-source [humanizer](https://github.com/blader/humanizer) skill, which catalogs ~30 specific tells (em-dash overuse, "stands as a testament", `-ing` analyses, rule-of-three padding, inline-bold lists, and so on).1011## When to use1213- The user pastes a chunk of writing and asks to "humanize", "de-AI", "tighten", or "make this sound like me".14- The user asks for editing on something they wrote with an LLM.15- A blog post / launch email / README draft has tells the user wants gone.1617## Steps18191. **Pull down the reference list of patterns** the first time this skill activates in a session:20 ```bash21 curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/blader/humanizer/main/SKILL.md22 ```23 Read it. There are ~30 patterns; you don't need to memorize them, just keep them visible while editing.24252. **Ask for a voice sample** if you don't already have one. One paragraph the user wrote themselves is enough. Match cadence, vocabulary, and how they handle transitions.26273. **Do a first pass** removing the highest-signal tells in this order:28 1. Sycophantic openers ("Great question!", "Absolutely!").29 2. Em-dashes that should be commas, periods, or parens.30 3. "It's not just X, it's Y" / "Not only … but …" parallelisms.31 4. Inflated significance words: *testament, pivotal, landscape, vibrant, tapestry, underscore*.32 5. Rule-of-three lists that pad ideas into groups of three.33 6. Inline-bold vertical lists (`- **Speed:** …`).34354. **Do a second "audit" pass.** Re-read your draft and ask out loud: *"What still makes this sound AI-generated?"* Answer briefly, then revise once more. This step is the difference between "cleaned up" and "actually sounds human".36375. **Return three things:**38 - A draft rewrite.39 - A short list of remaining tells you noticed during the audit.40 - A final rewrite with those fixed.4142## Don't4344- Don't replace AI mush with new AI mush. If the original said "stands as a testament to" and you change it to "represents a key milestone in", you haven't fixed anything.45- Don't sand off the user's voice. Quirks, opinions, and the occasional sentence fragment are the *point*.46- Don't add em-dashes back in. If you must use a punctuation break, prefer a period.4748## Reference4950Patterns and examples: <https://github.com/blader/humanizer>
Tony0410