Guidelines for AI

A curated collection of guidelines, tips, and resources we've gathered over time. Use them to make your interfaces feel more intentional and your products more human.

Writing

Voice & Tone

  • Vary sentence rhythm.Short sentences. Then a longer one that takes its time getting somewhere. Fragment. People don't write in uniform lengths.
  • Start sentences differently.Never begin three consecutive sentences the same way. Avoid "This…", "This…", "This…" or "The…", "The…", "The…"
  • Use contractions."Don't" not "do not". People contract. Robots don't.
  • Embrace imperfection.Fragments. Asides. Sentences that trail off. Flawless parallelism is a tell.
  • Have opinions.Stop hedging. "This works better" not "This may potentially be considered more effective."
  • Kill the preamble.Never "Certainly!" or "Great question!" or "I'd be happy to help!" Just start.
  • Drop "Let's explore.""Let's dive in", "Let's take a look", "Let's unpack this". AI loves fake collaboration. Just say it.

Word Choice

  • Ban AI vocabulary.Avoid: "delve", "utilize", "leverage", "facilitate", "comprehensive", "robust", "seamless", "cutting-edge", "harness", "foster", "paramount", "multifaceted", "synergy", "tapestry", "landscape", "realm", "embark", "beacon", "moreover", "furthermore".
  • Simple words."Use" not "utilize". "Help" not "facilitate". "Show" not "demonstrate". "Important" not "crucial".
  • Use "is" and "are".AI avoids simple copulatives. "The sky is blue" beats "The sky appears to be blue" or "The sky presents as blue".
  • Repeat words.AI uses synonyms to avoid repetition. Humans repeat. Say "problem" three times if that's what you mean. Don't swap in "challenge" and "issue".
  • Kill adverb stacking.One per paragraph, max. "Incredibly important" and "extremely crucial" in the same paragraph? Pick one. Or neither.
  • Cut the qualifiers."Very", "really", "quite", "rather". They weaken everything they touch.
  • Drop empty intensifiers."Literally", "absolutely", "definitely". When everything is emphasized, nothing is.
  • Match your audience.A dev blog doesn't sound like a wellness newsletter. Know who you're talking to.

Structure

  • Skip the intro and outro."In this article, I will discuss…" Delete. "In conclusion…" Delete. Start interesting, end when done.
  • Break the rule of three.AI loves triplets. Two points, four points, one point. Anything but three feels more human.
  • Asymmetric lists.One item's a sentence. Another's a paragraph. That's fine.
  • Bury the structure."There are three reasons…" then "First… Second… Third…" is a template. Let logic emerge.
  • Break parallelism.Perfect parallel structure reads like a template. Vary your constructions.
  • Vary paragraph length.One sentence can be its own paragraph. Creates emphasis.
  • Go deep, not wide.Five bullet points with one sentence each? Go deeper on two instead.

Authenticity

  • Get specific."Various challenges" → what challenges? "Significant improvements" → what numbers?
    We faced numerous challenges and achieved significant results.
    The API kept timing out. Added retry logic, cut failures from 12% to 0.3%.
  • No false ranges."Ranging from beginners to experts" or "from small startups to large enterprises". These mean nothing. Be specific or don't qualify.
  • Skip the significance."This represents a paradigm shift", "The broader implications", "This speaks to a larger trend". AI loves legacy language. Just say what happened.
  • Real examples.Generic examples feel generated. Weird, specific ones feel human.
  • Acknowledge what you don't know."This doesn't work for X" builds more trust than pretending everything's universal.
  • Show why you care."I spent a week debugging this" hits different than "This is a common issue."
  • Drop mechanical transitions."Furthermore", "Moreover", "Additionally". Just start a new paragraph.
  • Uneven emphasis.Some points matter more than others. Let that show.

Rhythm & Flow

  • Read it aloud.Stumbling? Rewrite. Human writing has rhythm you can feel.
  • Use fragments.For emphasis. Not always. But sometimes.
  • Add asides.Parentheticals (like this) feel like thinking out loud. They add texture.
  • Avoid em dashes.Em dashes are now an AI tell. Use periods, commas, or parentheses instead.
  • Vary how you start.Begin with "But" or "And" sometimes. It's fine.
  • End strong.Last words carry the weight. Put the important thing there.

Red Flags

  • No triple adjectives."Powerful, flexible, and scalable". Pick one. Maybe two.
  • No sycophancy."What a great question!" is filler. Delete it.
  • Earn your enthusiasm."Exciting" and "amazing" mean nothing when overused.
  • Cut promotional language."Revolutionary", "groundbreaking", "game-changing". If you have to say it, it probably isn't.
  • Skip the summary.Restating everything at the end? Trust your reader.
  • Allow negativity.Sometimes things are hard. Say so.
  • Kill clichés."At the end of the day", "game-changer", "move the needle". All dead.
  • Sentence case, not Title Case.AI capitalizes Every Important Word. Humans write "How to fix your code", not "How To Fix Your Code".

Adapt these. Break them when it makes sense. The point isn't rules. It's writing that actually connects.