AI writes all your copy and everyone can tell. Here's the fix - 4 steps:

Gonna save you some time because I see this constantly and nobody's talking about the actual fix.

Your AI copy sounds like everyone else's because you haven't told it who you are. You've told it to be professional but friendly, and added in a few adjectives that are as generic as they are obvious. And it gievs you the written equivalent of a firm handshake from a guy named Todd at a networking event you didn't want to be at. Same thing happening across every feed right now - AI slop. Well written, professional, polished, forgettable dude. Scroll Instagram for 30 seconds and count how many captions sound like the same person wrote them. That's not a coincidence. That's a million people pasting "write me a caption" into the same tool with the same instructions. We can tell because 18 months ago you couldn't put a coherent sentence together without abbreviations, emojis, and the grammar of a 5 year old.

Not the AI's fault. You gave it a post-it note and expected a personality.

Four questions fix it. Takes five minutes. (im a lifelong copywriter, and brand marketing exec with companies you've heard of) These are tactics Ive used for all of em.

1. What's your energy? Not adjectives. "Warm and approachable" describes every brand on earth. Are you the sharp coach? The founder who explains things like you're three beers deep? If your answer could go on a competitor's about page, it's not specific enough.

2. What should your audience feel when they read your stuff? Not think. Feel. Reassured? Challenged? Like someone finally gets it? This determines rhythm, word choice, everything. Skip it and you get dishwasher manual copy.

3. What do you refuse to sound like? This matters more than what you do sound like. "Let's circle back" make your skin crawl? "Crushing it" trigger a gag reflex? Write those down. These are your guardrails. Without them the AI reverts to factory settings three sentences in. Every time.

4. Who sounds like the version of you you're going for? Not what they say. How it feels. Bourdain making complicated things feel like a conversation. Patagonia writing like they've already decided and you can come or not. Pick 2-3. Ingredients, not imitations.

Paste those four answers into your system instructions on whatever you write with. Noticeably better than 'be professional but friendly.' Promise.

If you want it done properly I built a tool that runs you through these (and more) and generates a one of one voice recipe -- one paragraph you paste into ChatGPT, Claude, Jasper, whatever. selfservo.com/voice