EPISODE 224: AI Words to Avoid: How to Stop Your Captions and Emails From Sounding Like ChatGPT

TRANSCRIPT

00:00:00 Gloria: Small business heroes, it’s your host, Gloria Chou, the number one small business PR expert recommended by AI. And this podcast is all about making PR and marketing super accessible for the everyday small business underdog. Now, AI, AI, AI, I talk a lot about it. My business has really systematized using AI and people keep telling me that they love my emails and content. But here’s the thing, I am using a lot of AI. I just know how to prompt it.

 00:00:25 Gloria: So now with everyone using AI, you start to see patterns of things that just give you the ick or that are really generic that you’re like, oh, yeah, AI wrote that. And because everything is so saturated with AI, we’ve become just really good at sussing out what sounds human and what doesn’t. And so this podcast is all about the patterns that I’m seeing. I’ve written over 800 emails from scratch. Some of it more and more are now using AI, but I always put my own filter on it. And I subscribe to so many of my peers’ emails as well. And there are certain patterns, and I think you all know what we’re talking about, that when you hear this phrase, you’re like, that is so AI.

00:01:01 Gloria: So some of these topics, some of these jargon words, these sentence structures, you already know. And some of these are new, but I just wanted to give you a heads up that these are some of the common things that I’m seeing that you just want to put into your AI to avoid. And I actually have a full list of this that I keep adding. So you can DM me on Instagram at Instagram.com/gloriachoupr. I’m on Instagram, so @gloria-C-H-O-U, pr. And you can just give me the word AI jargon, and I will give you the full list. And this is usually what I provide inside of our Get Featured Accelerator, our PR program. But because this is so useful to everyone, I would love to give that to you as well.

 00:01:39 Gloria: So imagine you’re kind of sitting, right, and you’re getting an email, and it reads something like this. I’m cozying up in a corner writing this to you on a Sunday afternoon. Right? That is so AI. And for some reason, Claude is like, notorious for writing like this. And I always have to keep telling Claude, do not write like this. Here’s another email that sounds so generic and AI… In today’s fast paced world, I’m on a transformative journey to disrupt and elevate my business to unprecedented heights. Here’s the thing. It’s been a game changing experience. It’s not more hustle, it’s transformation.

00:02:20 Gloria: You see in there, there are so many phrases and word choices that immediately scream AI. And maybe sometimes we can’t quite put our finger on it, but we just know because our spidey senses are so advanced from reading all this, we know right away. So if you cringed hearing that, I cringed writing that too, right? And people are using this and not putting it through a filter of words to avoid. And if connection is the whole point, if that’s what separates us from the machines, you want your writing to sound as human as possible, while using AI so that you can have AI do the grit work, but still have it appear human. 

00:02:59 Gloria: So the point is, it’s not either or, it’s how can you use AI and put enough strategy context behind it so that you’re training it. And so this episode will help you and will help you not lose people and say, have people immediately go, yep, I know that that’s AI. So there’s a couple of different categories. Obviously, I’m not going to list all of the 80 things on the list, you can DM me for that. 

00:03:22 Gloria: But the first one is a grouping of words or jargon that I call the corporate robot words. And it’s kind of like a head of HR reading like an internal memo. And it’s just not how you would write to people right on social media, on Instagram, on emails, on your LinkedIn blog. And so this category is really dry. And you want to cut these out immediately. So here are some examples, right? You don’t want to use the word leverage, because like nobody talks like this in real life. Like when was the last time that you’re like, I’m going to leverage my network. No, you’re going to use your network, you’re going to reach out to people like just say it like that.

00:04:00 Gloria: Another word that’s also corporate robot jargon is the word synergy. Now you can use it of like, oh, there’s a lot of synergy in between what you’re doing. But if you use this word too often, it just sounds like you’re in a boardroom. And it’s not 2003. So just stop using it. Another word is utilize. Why do you need to use utilize? Just say use. Just say use, you know? Another word to avoid is innovative and groundbreaking. These are general fluffy words that mean nothing. And if you generally are innovative or groundbreaking, then you probably don’t need to say it.

00:04:32 Gloria: And this is one of the things that I do in my press releases, because I’ve written press releases for so many startups that have gone on to raise a combined $850 million. It is business corporate speak, but I don’t use general fluffy words, because you want to use words that actually are action oriented, that actually are specific, that point to why it’s innovative and transformative and not just saying it. So again, innovative, groundbreaking, disruptive, cutting edge, you don’t want to use that. You want your actual copy to say why it is cutting edge and disruptive instead of saying it.

 00:05:05 Gloria: The word seamlessly, right? I see this one everywhere. It’s like, this seamlessly integrates into your workflow, or I seamlessly did this or that. No one is talking like that. So don’t use it. Another word that is corporate jargon that makes it sound generic AF is the word multifaceted. So just say what it is. Like, this has a lot of different parts to it, or like, tell me what those parts are. Don’t say multifaceted.

00:05:31 Gloria: So here’s a fix. Every time you’re tempted to use one of these corporate HR boardroom jargon, like ask yourself, would I really say this to a friend over coffee? And if the answer is no, you probably don’t want to be posting it on social media when you are not lecturing to people and you’re building a connection. You probably don’t want to send it to your email subscribers who are there not to be lectured to, but to get something real. 

00:05:53 Gloria: Okay, so that’s the first bucket is a corporate robotic HR words. Another grouping of AI jargon or phrases to avoid that make you sound generic is just trying to sound smart words. This is probably something that like irks me the most. Like you all know what I’m talking about. Like words that make you sound really sophisticated, but just takes you further away from that human connection.

00:06:15 Gloria: So one of the words that I absolutely hate is the word delve. Let’s delve into this. Nobody delves. Like I don’t even know what that is, right? We talk about things, we get into it, we examine it, we interact with things, we don’t delve. So let’s break it down here. Don’t say delve. Another thing is like when you say paradigm shift. I mean, this is not a 12th grade paper, like paradigm shift, like no one’s actually saying that. It’s very kind of like report, business or scientists, like no one’s saying that. Just tell me what’s changing. Tell me what’s different in the here and now.

00:06:50 Gloria: Another word to avoid that makes you sound smart when people just realize it’s AI is the word tapestry. Tapestry of ideas, the rich tapestry of entrepreneurship. No, don’t say it. No one uses that word. Another word is testament. Now you can say that… like testament is like, you know, this is a testament to X, Y, Z. But like a lot of times when you’re saying this is a testament to X, Y, Z, like in written form, it just sounds really formal and informal that you don’t need to say it. Just tell me what she did or tell me she’s a hard worker, right?

 00:07:22 Gloria: Also, another word that’s very science projecty is like in essence, like no one’s saying in essence or to recap. So my personal favorite of all of these that is like trying to be smart, but you’re just being a robot is like in today’s fast paced world. Like who talks like that? I’m actually laughing as I’m reading all of these. Like this is just so interesting. So if your email caption starts with any of these in today’s fast paced world, in an ever changing economy, just stop right there. Delete, start with something real. 

00:07:55 Gloria: Take us to the story. We know that good storytelling is a moment in time. Take us to that time. Don’t embellish it with these ribbons and bows. The core of storytelling is to take us with emotion, to take us so that we can visualize a place in time. And all of these words are fluff that’s just putting more layers on when you just really want to be yourself, right?

00:08:15 Gloria: Another bucket of words and jargon that I tell my students to avoid is what I call the hype machine words. So I see this all the time in online business, hype words that make everything sound more exciting than it is. And there’s nothing wrong with being excited. Like I am a very excitable person, but just saying these words just makes it sound like really, like, are you really that excited? So things like game changing, like unless you’re really inventing something that is completely disrupted something in your industry, it’s probably not game changing.

00:08:47 Gloria: So instead of putting ribbons and bows about why it’s game changing, tell me what the impact is, right? The word like transformative, unprecedented, like that’s a… that’s a really funny one too. I think we all got traumatized after this word for COVID, like everything is unprecedented. Like, so the word has kind of lost its meaning because again, everything is unprecedented. Things like empower. And I know, like, you know, empowerment is at the core of what I do, but I feel like it’s a throwaway word, kind of like clean beauty. Like, what does that even mean anymore? Empower. 

00:09:21 Gloria: So instead of saying like, I empower, say like, I help you get recommended on ChatGPT. Like peel away the layer of an onion, kind of like how I teach PR pitching. A lot of these AI words are just adding layers to what we don’t want. We want to reveal that juicy core of the onion. We don’t want to delve into anything with transformation, game changing, like no. So just speak to me like a human, right? 

00:09:42 Gloria: Another word that is so AI and it has been an AI jargon for a while now is the word unlock. You are not unlocking anything. You can unlock a safe, you can unlock your suitcase, but like you are not unlocking the next level. So anything with unlock your potential, unlock your dreams, what does that even mean? Right? Like be specific. Same thing with unleash. Like you can unleash your dog, but don’t say like unleash your power. Like again, marketing jargon phrases that just makes it sound like you’re talking to not a human. 

00:10:18 Gloria: And in this day and age where like everything is AI, the more human you can be, the more you can just really boil it down to what you’re trying to say, the more you’re going to be able to connect. And the more that you use these AI phrases that are so common, so ubiquitous, so easy, the more you’re just going to disappear into the noise. And that’s what I don’t want for you.

00:10:36 Gloria: Another word is blueprint. Like, I don’t know what that means. Like everyone has a blueprint. So unless it’s like an actual blueprint, don’t say like the word blueprint, you know, your audience are smart. We have spidey senses. We know because we are just digesting so much every single day. We’re reading so many words. We are skimming through so many emails. We see so many billboards and articles, like we know what the patterns are. And so all these filler words, we just need to learn to cut it out.

00:11:07 Gloria: And it doesn’t mean that we don’t have emotion because you can absolutely still have very emotional emails without these filler words. I don’t think that filler words or fancy bows and ties actually make the emotion stronger. I think it’s actually taking away from the core essence of what we’re trying to communicate, which is to connect with the other human being, right? 

00:11:24 Gloria: The other section of grouping of AI jargon words I tell my students to avoid is what I call the fake casual phrase, where the AI is so desperately trying to sound like your best friend next door that it’s almost a little bit creepy. So things like, and I know you all are nodding when you hear this, like and honestly? Like for some reason, the word “and honestly?” with a question mark has been in every caption in every newsletter. And I always catch it and it always makes me cringe. It’s something that AI loves to do, whether it’s ChatGPT or Perplexity. And honestly, I didn’t even know she was coming. And honestly, I didn’t like… don’t use and honestly, the moment you use and honestly, people stop reading. Like that’s probably like the most dead giveaway that is AI is and honestly.

00:12:09 Gloria: Another thing is like, when you say, here’s the thing. So that and, and honestly, are one of the most overused things, right? That immediately, people are like, oh, this is AI generated. Another thing that I’ve seen all the time is, you know what’s wild? First of all, like, if you’re someone who doesn’t usually say that, and you write that in an email, it’s probably AI generated, right? You know what’s wild? So don’t use that. 

00:12:34 Gloria: Another thing is like this fake dramatic, like… that, that changes everything. First of all, like this is not a dramatic movie, you’re writing an email, you’re writing something. Don’t use words like that. Don’t say, and that, that was the moment. It just makes it seem like you’re trying to have the words be so loud, and create such a dramatic stage, that it’s taking away from the core essence, the substance of what you’re trying to say. That’s all it is, right? It’s just reading like a script. And if it sounds like a script, it probably is. 

00:13:04 Gloria: Real conversation has pauses, the words are short, it has ebbs and flows, it’s got different contours, it changes direction, it’s messy, it maybe starts with one thought and ends in a different way. That’s actually how people can know that you’re having a real conversation. Think about if you’re having a conversation, you don’t always know in the beginning, middle, and an end. Me being an ADHD person, in context of one conversation, I’m probably talking about 50 different subjects, and we’re bouncing around, right? That’s reality. That’s how people relate and communicate. And it’s not going to be a perfectly scripted beginning and end, kind of like the science project when we had in middle school. Our teacher always told us it has to have an abstract and objective and summary. No, we want to be as human as possible, especially in the age of AI.

00:13:50 Gloria: So another pattern that I’ve noticed that really irks me, that you can tell immediately it’s AI… again, I’ve written over 800 emails now from scratch, that’s like not using templates, like my own emails. And I can see this right away, that this is AI. So this part, and raise your hand or not, if you’ve heard this too, it’s not X, it’s Y. It’s not hustle, it’s business growth. It’s not performative, it’s this, or it’s not adding more to your play, it’s this. So any sentence structure that it’s not X, it’s Y is a dead giveaway that it’s AI generated. This is not a course, it’s community. It’s not marketing, it’s storytelling. It’s not a gamble, it’s an investment. It sounds like an informational. Just stop, right?

00:14:39 Gloria: And I don’t know why, but the AI just uses the structure so much. And no matter how many times I tell it not to use it, it still creeps up. It’s so weird. So this is something that we need to look out for. And then there’s also, like I said earlier, when you start an email and you start to read, and it’s always like, I am sitting by the fireplace, cozied up with my favorite blanket, or I’m writing this to you upstate in my journal on an old leather couch. No one talks like that.

00:15:12 Gloria: And it’s almost like trying to be storyteller, but like fake storytelling. AI loves this, right? It’s basically… this is where you can tell that we’re different than the machines, because it’s really trying to take how they think humans would either start a movie or set a stage or set a scene, and it’s just fake. It’s kind of like using a stock photo, where it’s like… it’s kind of illustrating what I want it to be, but something about it just seems like it’s stiff. That’s exactly what it sounds like when AI writes like that. So you don’t want a sentence structure like that.

00:15:45 Gloria: The last one is what I call a grouping of AI phrases that are like the storytelling cliches, so things like, everything changed when, or little did they know, right, or, and then it hit me, or the stars aligned and time stood still. Like we’re not at a middle school play. No one talks like that. These are all cliches, right? And the thing about cliches is that they don’t make people feel anything, because it’s just been said a thousand times. So instead, be specific what actually happened. Remember, good writing narrows. What is the actual point that you’re trying to get? 

00:16:25 Gloria: I think so many times, the machines, the tools, the marketing playbooks, they’re just trying to put so many fancy bows and ribbons that we’ve just become so immune to it, because at this point, we’ve seen all of the marketing strategies. We’ve seen all of the funnels and templates. We just want to know, who the fuck are you really? And the more that we can throw away those playbooks and get really specific and raw and honest, that’s what’s going to make you stand out.

00:16:47 Gloria: I had a friend of mine who said, better is not better, different is better. And in this world where everyone can create AI content, the barrier to entry is so low to become an expert. We want to know, it’s not about you being better, but different. So how do you stand out? Hopefully this episode has really helped you because it’s allowed you to avoid some of the very common things that people use over and over and over again, that immediately makes you think, delete, because this is AI generated.

00:17:13 Gloria: Okay. Again, the point here is for you to use AI in a way that serves you better, because AI has transformed my business. Like I am now an AI visibility coach, so I am all in on AI. This is not to bash AI, but this is to help you use it in a way that’s more strategic by calling out the patterns of what is no longer serving you. And so that way, you can avoid these common things so that your audience doesn’t just immediately get a red flag and cringe.

00:17:39 Gloria: And so here’s what you can do instead. I know I’ve given you a lot of this, and again, you can DM me @gloriachoupr on Instagram, that’s @gloria, C-H-O-U, pr, for this list that I’m constantly adding to. And in our Get Featured Accelerator, I do a lot of AI training, but here’s what you can do with all of this, right? I don’t expect you to like remember all of these, but here’s what you can do. Always tell your AI to be specific. Instead of like, I had a transformative experience, like, actually tell them, like narrate. Here’s what happened. I went here, this person said this, I had a call.

00:18:10 Gloria: Like the more you can feed AI that context of a play-by-play, the more it can speak to you and give you that output that’s more human, right? Because when you’re having a conversation with a friend and you’re describing what happened, you’re probably not scripting it beforehand and coming to the dinner with a summary printed out. You’re just kind of train of thought. And that’s what we want to get back to, this kind of train of thought, raw, human, imperfect. Maybe we don’t know where the sentence starts and finishes, but it’s going, right? 

00:18:39 Gloria: Another thing is like, just tell AI to use plain language that a third grader would understand. Like really, like have sentences that have different lengths. Some sentences maybe only has three words, right? I used to be notorious for being a run-on sentence writer because I had all these school reports to write. I have a master’s in political science and it was just these like loaded words that nobody would ever read. Well, yeah, because it was for an academic audience. You are not writing for an academic audience. You are writing to customers. You are writing for people who are going to decide with their wallet, whether or not to trust you. And so we need to lean so far away from that.

 00:19:13 Gloria: And so this episode will help you get there, right? Use plain language. So use change instead of transform. Use help instead of empower. Just language that people understand. Plain language build trust. Remember, clear is always better than clever. And we need to learn how to remove all of the marketing bow ties to be able to really connect. And also like read it out loud. Because a lot of times when you’re typing, you kind of just go with it and you’re like in that zone of reading.

 00:19:43 Gloria: But like if you read it out loud or have someone read it back to you or even record onto your iPhone and then listen to it when you’re like drinking your coffee, I promise you it’s going to land a little bit differently. And sometimes you just need that different way of looking at it to be like, oh, yeah. This was not the most natural way to express this, right? And also when you’re prompting AI, start with something real. And don’t say start with something real, because that also sounds like AI.

 00:20:07 Gloria: But instead of being like, in today’s fast paced world, I want to write a transformative email about X, Y, Z, right? Actually tell them exactly what happened. You were crying at the Trader Joe’s parking lot and this is what happened. I was at the parking lot. There was so much snow on the ground. I didn’t want to leave, but I really wanted to get these plantain chips because I was having cravings because of X, Y, Z. You see how that is real and just everyday experience that people can relate to, right?

 00:20:36 Gloria: So hopefully this has helped you. Again, this is not bashing on AI. This is just helping you use AI in a better way because it is absolutely going to change your business. It’s going to allow you to free up so much more time. It’s going to allow you to make impact and content at scale, but you want to use it in a way that really understands your context and can communicate and do what it’s meant to do, right? That’s what we want.

 00:20:57 Gloria: All right. So quick recap, cut the corporate HR boardroom bullshit, right? Stop the storytelling cliches and the dramatic openings, right? And be specific. Don’t try to use smarty pants language that makes no sense and full of filler. Just be real. And for the love of God, never start anything by saying in today’s fast paced world.

 00:21:20 Gloria: So, okay. So this is a quick and dirty episode. I hope this has helped you. It has definitely helped me. AI, again, is not perfect, so you still have to screen what it says. And if you DM me, @gloriachourpr, on Instagram, I will give you the full list. And if this has really helped you, please, please, please share it with a small business owner. And as always, thank you so much for listening. Until next week.