The 3 Types of AI-Generated Content Your Customers Can Smell From a Mile Away

Let’s be honest: most AI-generated content has a smell. It’s not a bad smell, necessarily. It’s more like that faint “new car” scent — except the car is made of platitudes and the phrase “landscape of” appears in every paragraph.

Your customers might not be able to articulate “this blog post was written by an algorithm,” but they feel it. It makes them trust you less. And in a small business, trust is all you’ve got.

Here are the three telltale signs of AI content — and how to fix them before your audience develops a nose for your brand.

Type 1: The “Dive Into” Epidemic

AI loves to talk about diving. “Let’s dive into…” “In this article, we’ll dive deep into…” “Before we dive in…” If I had a dollar for every time an AI suggested diving somewhere, I could retire and actually dive into a pool of money.

Why it happens: AI was trained on millions of blog posts that started this way. It learned that “dive” is what good articles do. It doesn’t know that actual humans find this phrase as exciting as a wet handshake.

The fix: Search your content for “dive,” “landscape,” “navigate the world of,” and “unlock the power of.” Replace each with a specific statement. Instead of “Let’s dive into AI tools for small business,” say “Here are three AI tools that actually save you time.” See? No drowning required.

Type 2: The “Overview” That Never Gets Specific

AI-written content is great at describing things in the abstract and terrible at getting into the weeds. It will tell you that “AI-powered solutions can revolutionize your workflow” but it won’t tell you what specific workflow, which AI tool, or how much it costs.

This is the content equivalent of a movie trailer that shows only the logo. “From the studio that brought you movies… comes… a movie!” Technically true. Completely useless.

Why it happens: AI is trained to be helpful and inoffensive. Specifics are risky — what if the specific example is wrong? What if the price changed? AI would rather be vaguely correct than specifically wrong. It’s the “ask your doctor if it’s right for you” of content generation.

The fix: After AI generates content, go through and replace every generic claim with a specific one. If it says “many businesses see results,” change it to “our client, a 12-person marketing agency, cut response time by 60%.” If you don’t have a specific example, find one before you publish.

Type 3: The “Embrace the Power” Pep Talk

AI loves to hype you up. “Embrace the transformative journey ahead.” “Unlock your full potential by leveraging cutting-edge solutions.” It’s like a LinkedIn influencer who just discovered caffeine.

This content sounds motivational until you realize it says nothing. “Embrace the power of AI to transform your business” is the content equivalent of a motivational poster with a cat hanging from a branch. It feels good for exactly three seconds and then you remember you still don’t know what to do.

Why it happens: AI was trained on corporate blogs, self-help books, and LinkedIn posts from people who sell courses on how to sell courses. It absorbed the tone but not the substance.

The fix: Read your AI-generated content aloud. If it sounds like a commencement speech, cut it. Replace “transformative journey” with “Tuesday afternoon.” Replace “unlock potential” with “set up a chatbot.” If the sentence still works, you’re good. If it doesn’t, you needed the specifics anyway.

The Real Secret: Edit Like You Mean It

AI content isn’t bad because it’s AI-generated. It’s bad because nobody edited it. The difference between “dive into the landscape of AI-powered transformative solutions” and “Here’s how to set up a chatbot in 30 minutes” is about 10 minutes of human editing.

That 10 minutes is the difference between content that builds trust and content that makes your brand smell like generic AI. Your choice.