Writing with AI without losing your voice
AI helps you write faster, at the risk of a bland, interchangeable style. How to use it while keeping a text that sounds like you.
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An AI-written text is increasingly recognisable: smooth, cautious, a little hollow. Handy for going fast, disastrous for standing out. Here is how to benefit from the help without diluting your voice.
The real risk: the average
A model produces, by design, an average phrasing: the one that pleases the most people. That is exactly what makes a text forgettable. Your value, on the other hand, lies in what is not average: an angle, a conviction, a lived example.
Use AI upstream, not in your place
Where the assistant truly excels:
- Break the blank page: ask it for an outline, three possible angles, a list of arguments.
- Rephrase what you have already written: shorten, clarify, correct — the same logic as for summarising a long document without betraying it.
- Play the critical reader: “what is unclear? what is missing?”
In all these cases, the idea stays yours. The AI works the material, not the substance.
Give it your voice as a reference
If you want it to imitate you, show it. Paste two or three texts you have written and ask it to match their tone. A concrete example guides far better than an abstract instruction like “be natural”: it is one of the 7 principles for writing better prompts, show rather than describe.
Always take the last pass yourself
The rule that changes everything: the last pass must be yours. Reinject an anecdote, a firm opinion, a turn of phrase that is yours. It is this final gesture that turns a correct text into a text that sounds like you.
Beware of AI tics
Some phrasings give the machine away: systematic three-point structures, all-purpose transitions, empty superlatives, excessive caution. When you spot them in a generated draft, cut without regret.
Key takeaway
AI is an excellent drafter and a poor final author. Use it to go faster up to the draft, then take back control of what makes the difference: your point of view. That is precisely what a machine cannot provide in your place.
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Frequently asked questions
Why does AI-written text often sound bland?
Because a model produces, by design, an average phrasing — the one that pleases the most people. Yet your value lies precisely in what is not average: an angle, a conviction, a lived example.
How do I keep my style while using AI?
Use it upstream (outline, rephrasing, critical review) without letting it own the substance, show it two or three of your texts as a tone reference, and keep the last pass for yourself to reinject an anecdote, an opinion and turns of phrase that are yours.
How do I get AI to imitate my tone?
Show it rather than describe it: paste two or three texts you have written and ask it to match their tone. A concrete example guides far better than an abstract instruction like 'be natural'.
Which 'AI tics' should you spot and cut?
Systematic three-point structures, all-purpose transitions, empty superlatives and excessive caution. When you spot them in a generated draft, cut without regret.