I Got Called Out by a Client Too

Last autumn, I handed off an event planning doc to a client who runs a parenting education business — met her at a café, slid the draft across the table. She read it, went quiet for a few seconds, then said: "The content's fine, but… it reads a bit like a robot wrote it." My face went warm. That draft was something I'd roughed out with AI and lightly edited before sending. I thought changing a few words was enough. It wasn't.

If you've done any outsourced copywriting, written reports for clients, or built a personal brand through content — you probably know this awkward moment. AI is fast, but the "AI smell" is something you genu inely have to train yourself out of.

A Teacher Used Type writers to Teach Feel — and I Took One Thing From It

I came across a story recently about a university professor in the US who, to stop students submitting AI-generated work, literally brought in old manual typewriters. No delete key. You have to think it through before you type it. Sounds extreme — but the core idea is simple: the texture of writing comes from actually thinking, not from generating.

I carried that logic into my own workflow . I know a brand consultant freelancer named Xi aowen — she now does one specific thing after every AI -generated first draft: she copies the text into a blank document and reads it out loud, pret ending she's talking to a specific person (her mum, or her most demanding client). Wherever it stumbles, wherever it sounds fake, she rewrites that sentence. She says the method is low-tech and unglamorous. But it works. I tried it. It does.

What It Costs to Replicate This Today

This approach is essentially zero cost — no paid tools required. All you need is somewhere to type.

  • Money: ¥0 / $0. Use whatever AI tool you're already on. Nothing extra to buy.
  • Time: About 30 minutes the first time you try it. Once it's a habit, add 10–15 minutes per piece .
  • Technical barrier: None. This is plain text editing — no settings, no account config, nothing to install.
  • First step: Open anything you've written recently with AI help. Find one sentence that flows naturally when you read it aloud, and one that feels stiff. Sit with the difference between the two.

The place I got stuck longest was not knowing what "AI smell" actually meant in concrete terms. What I eventually noticed: the sentences are too uniform, every paragraph has a "first / second / finally" structure, and the ending always has something like "in summary" or "hope this was helpful." Break those hab itual scaffolds. Replace them with your own speaking rhythm. That alone moves the needle a lot.

Advice by Where You're At

If you're just starting a side income and don't have regular clients yet: I wouldn't stress about this right now. AI-assisted writing is fine — use it to move faster, and only revisit your style once you get real feedback from a real client. No rush.

If you have 1–2 clients and are already delivering content work : I'd add the "read it aloud" step to your delivery process — not to be perfect, but so clients feel "this came from a real person." That's what builds repeat- hire trust.

If you're scaling up, managing collaborators, or outsourcing writing : This problem compounds fast. I'd suggest building a "tone reference list" for yourself — words you habitually use, words you avoid, typical sentence length — and share it with whoever you're working with. Make it once, save a lot of back-and-forth later .

Not everyone needs to act on this immediately. If none of your current clients have ever mentioned it, bookmark this and come back when they do.