Marketing and communication
Teaching AI your own writing style
AI-written text often all sounds the same. With a short style guide and real examples, AI writes more like you.
5 min read
You can spot most AI text straight away: the same phrasing, over-the-top enthusiasm and words nobody uses in real life. That's because the AI doesn't know how you write. You can teach it.
Gather examples
Choose five to ten texts you wrote yourself and are happy with: emails, posts, part of your website. The more varied, the better. Remove names and confidential details.
Have your style described
Paste the examples and ask the AI to describe your style: sentence length, form of address, vocabulary, tone, what you often do and what you never do. Read that description critically and adjust it. The result is your style guide.
What goes into a good style guide
- Tone: for example "direct, warm, with a touch of humour".
- Form of address: formal or informal.
- Sentences: short, active, few subordinate clauses.
- Words you do use and typical expressions.
- Words you never use, such as "groundbreaking", "seamless" or "in today's fast-changing world".
- Formatting: bullet points or not, emoji, exclamation marks.
- Two or three example sentences that are typically you.
Where to use it
Put the style guide into the standing instructions or project of your AI tool. Then it applies to every text. If several people write, create one company style guide and perhaps a short personal one for those who often write under their own name.
Keep refining
Every time you heavily rewrite an AI text, there's a lesson in it. Add it to the style guide. After a few weeks, first drafts will sound noticeably more like you.
Checklist
Your answers stay only in this browser.
Prompt to copy
Below are texts I wrote myself. Describe my writing style in a style guide of no more than 200 words: tone, form of address, sentence structure, typical words, words I never use, formatting, and three example sentences that are typically me. Base it only on the examples.
[paste the texts]
