Writers Adopt Anti-AI Styles With 1,000-Pitch Filters and Deliberate Typos
Updated
Updated · WIRED · Jul 29
Writers Adopt Anti-AI Styles With 1,000-Pitch Filters and Deliberate Typos
1 articles · Updated · WIRED · Jul 29
Summary
Deliberate typos, first-person anecdotes and spikier syntax are emerging as an anti-AI writing style as authors and editors try to mark prose as unmistakably human.
LLMs' spread and fears of false AI accusations are driving the shift: Hachette pulled Mia Ballard's novel in March after online speculation, while Steven Rosenbaum admitted using AI-generated fabricated quotes.
Newsrooms and magazines are adjusting practice too—Pitchfork told writers no AI may be used in review copy, and Aeon editors say they now preserve rougher, more conversational prose.
Playboy's Philip Picardi said many of roughly 1,000 open-call pitches appeared AI-generated, pushing the magazine toward more formally adventurous, experience-based submissions.
The backlash is already spawning tools and tests: Sinceerly leaves mistakes in emails, and its misspelled subject lines were the only ones opened by Fortune 500 CEOs in one A/B test.