Editing an AI draft so it sounds like you

An AI draft usually reads like a polite stranger wrote it. The grammar's fine and the tone is bland. Fixing that is mostly cutting and rewriting, and you can do it in a few passes.

Why drafts sound generic

The tool isn't remembering your shop. It's built to predict likely next words.¹ Without strong guidance, it picks the middle-of-the-road phrasing that suits almost anyone. That's how you end up with a newsletter that could have come from any business in any town.

So the fix isn't a better adjective. It's putting back what only you know: the details, the habits of speech, the small judgement calls.

Fix the meaning before the voice

Do this first, because rewording a wrong sentence only makes a wrong sentence prettier. Compare facts to your notes, since chatbots can slip in details that sound right but aren't.² The full routine is on the fact-checking page.

Cut the stock phrases

Go through and delete anything that gives no information. Typical culprits:

• openers that praise the reader or announce excitement;
• "valued customers", "exciting news", "we're thrilled";
• sentences that describe the newsletter itself;
• closing lines that restate what you've just said;
• long strings of adjectives with nothing behind them.

If a sentence could be pasted into any other business's newsletter unchanged, it's a candidate for the bin. Replace it with something only you could say: the actual job you did this week, the question a customer asked, the reason you changed a supplier.

Rewrite stiff sentences

Stiffness tends to come from a few patterns.

Passive voice. Plain-language guidance says "Active voice makes it clear who should do what."³ "Orders must be placed by Thursday" becomes "Please order by Thursday." Shorter, and clear about who does what.

Future and conditional tenses. The same guidance says "The simplest and strongest form of a verb is present tense."³ "We will be offering" becomes "We offer."

Long, wrapped-up sentences. Split them. Then vary the lengths. A run of sentences all the same size sounds like a machine. Put a very short one after a long one.

Formal words. "Commence" and "assist" can be "start" and "help". The goal is to write for the people reading. As the guidance puts it, "Plain language writing requires communicating clearly for your specific audience."³

Use contractions and your own phrases

Say it out loud. If you wouldn't say "we are pleased to inform you" across the counter, don't leave it in. Write "we're" and "you'll" if that's how you talk. Put back the little phrases you use all the time, whether that's "no worries" or "pop in".

Don't go overboard. Slang you never use is as false as corporate stiffness.

Let the tool help with the edit

You can also use the tool as an editing assistant, with strict limits. Paste in your own corrected paragraph and ask:

Shorten this without changing any facts, names, numbers or dates. Keep my wording where you can. Show me what you changed.

The last instruction matters. A tool asked to tidy a paragraph can quietly alter a date or soften a condition. A list of changes lets you catch that. Compare the result with your version before you accept it.

Keep the tone steady across issues

A voice note is a short list of your habits. Keep it in a file and paste it into each request. It might cover:

• how you greet readers and how you sign off;
• words you like and words you avoid;
• whether you use first names, humour or exclamation marks;
• how long a typical issue runs;
• who you're talking to.

Update it when you spot a new tic to remove. Over time, the notes do more than a long prompt, since each draft starts closer to where you want it.

Last, read the whole thing on screen as a customer would see it, then once more aloud. Awkward sentences show up when you hear them. When it sounds like you, run the final checks and send.