# The Edit Pass That Kills AI Voice

- Source: https://simeoncreatives.com/blog/edit-pass-that-kills-ai-voice
- Hub: Branding & Creative Strategy
- Author: Simeon Matheka, Founder & Creative Director
- Published: 2026-10-01
- Updated: 2026-10-01
- Reading time: 13 min

A draft that sounds like everyone is a draft that sounds like no one. A five-pass edit that swaps pattern for specifics, using a checklist you can run in thirty minutes.

You have a draft that is clean, grammatical, and somehow empty. Nothing is wrong with any single sentence. That is the problem. Here is a five-pass edit that puts the specifics back, in the order that costs the least effort.

Print the [AI voice edit checklist](https://simeoncreatives.com/resources/ai-voice-edit-checklist) and keep it open while you work. Claims that are risky to print are sorted in the [Claims, Proof, Risk ladder](https://simeoncreatives.com/blog/claims-proof-risk-messaging-ladder). The rules for your own voice sit in [architecting brand voice and messaging](https://simeoncreatives.com/blog/architecting-brand-voice-messaging).

## What gives generic copy away

It is rarely one word. It is a texture. Every sentence is about the same length. Every paragraph ends on a tidy summary. Every claim is a notch too abstract to check. You can feel it in the first scroll, even if you cannot name it.

| Pattern | Why it reads as generic | Repair |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Opening with a sweeping statement about the world | It could open any article on any topic | Start with the reader’s situation or the first concrete step |
| Rule of three everywhere (“fast, simple, reliable”) | The rhythm substitutes for content | Keep the one that you can prove, cut the rest |
| “Not just X, but Y” framing | It sets up a contrast nobody asked for | State Y directly |
| Closing every paragraph with a lesson | It narrates the point instead of making it | End on the last fact or the next action |
| Abstract nouns doing the work (“solutions,” “experiences,” “journeys”) | Nothing to picture or verify | Replace with the object, person, or step |
| Hedges stacked (“may potentially help to”) | Reads as afraid to commit | Say it, or label it as a guess |
| Long dashes as a rhythm device | A tell when used every second sentence | Use a period or a comma |

```mermaid
flowchart LR
        D["Draft"] --> P1["Pass 1: Facts"]
        P1 --> P2["Pass 2: Patterns"]
        P2 --> P3["Pass 3: Rhythm"]
        P3 --> P4["Pass 4: Texture"]
        P4 --> P5["Pass 5: Read aloud"]
```

## Pass 1: Put facts in before you take style out

Do this first. Polishing a hollow sentence just makes it a shinier hollow sentence. For each paragraph, ask: what is the one thing only we could say here? A step in our process. A number we have actually measured, with its date. A constraint we keep. A customer’s own phrase. An example from this week.

- **Name the object: **replace “our platform” with the screen, report, or file the reader will see.
- **Name the person: **“Teams” becomes “the office manager who books the van.”
- **Name the number or the absence: **give the real figure with its source, or say plainly that you have not measured it.
- **Name the cost: **what does it take to do this, or what does it not cover? Honest limits read as human.

If you cannot add a fact to a paragraph, cut it. A shorter draft with three real details beats a longer one with none.

## Pass 2: Hunt the patterns

Search the draft, literally, for the stock phrases. Keep a living list in your brand voice notes. Start with the ones below. This is a ban list for your edits, not a taboo forever: a word may belong in a sentence when it is the exact right one. The test is whether you chose it or it arrived.

- **Verbs that sell the sale: **“unlock,” “elevate,” “supercharge,” “leverage” used as a verb for “use.”
- **Throat-clearing: **“In today’s fast-paced world,” “it is important to note,” “let’s dive in.”
- **Empty adjectives: **“seamless,” “robust,” “cutting-edge,” “game-changing,” “holistic.”
- **Self-announcement: **“This article will explore,” “in this guide we will cover.” Start the work instead.
- **Faux-profound closers: **“At the end of the day,” “the future is bright,” “only time will tell.”

## Pass 3: Break the rhythm

Smooth copy has an even beat. Read three paragraphs and tap the sentence lengths. If they all land at roughly twenty words, you are hearing it. Real speech runs long, then short, then a fragment. Then a question. Mix it.

1. **Split one long sentence: **per paragraph, break the longest at the first natural stop.
2. **Allow one fragment: **a few words that land the point. Not every paragraph, though.
3. **Kill the tidy summary: **delete the last sentence of any paragraph that restates it.
4. **Break the triplet: **if three adjectives are lined up, keep one, or list two and stop.

## Pass 4: Add texture only a person has

Texture is the small detail you would only know from doing the work. A wrong turn you made. A phrase a client keeps using. A thing that surprised you. It is not decoration. It is evidence that someone was in the room.

| Texture | Prompt | Hypothetical example |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Mistake | What did we get wrong the first time? | “We shipped the form with eight fields. Calls were mostly people asking what the form wanted.” |
| Reader phrase | What do buyers actually say? | “I just need to know who is doing what by Friday.” |
| Constraint | What could we not do, and why? | “We cannot promise a date until the content arrives.” |
| Surprise | What did we not expect? | “The contact page was the most visited page on the site.” |
| Preference | What would we pick, and why? | “We would rather ship fewer pages that are finished.” |

Label examples honestly. If it is hypothetical, say so. If it is observed, date it. Never invent a story to supply texture. A fake anecdote is the same hollow sentence, wearing a costume.

## Pass 5: Read it aloud, then cut ten percent

Out loud, any sentence you would not say to a customer across a table is a candidate. You will stumble on the ones that were written to sound impressive. Mark each stumble. Rewrite it how you would say it, then delete whatever is left over. The target is about ten percent shorter than where you started.

One last check: change the company name to a competitor’s. Does the paragraph still read true? If yes, it is not yours yet. Go back to pass 1.

## Hypothetical, labeled

Hypothetical before: “We deliver seamless, end-to-end branding solutions that elevate your business and unlock your full potential.” Pass 1 asks what only this studio could say. Answer: two people, one named approver, a one-page brief before anyone draws. Pass 2 strips “seamless,” “elevate,” “unlock.” Pass 3 splits the sentence. Pass 4 adds a mistake: they used to start with logos and now do not. After: “Two of us run every project. We write a one-page brief first and ask one person to approve it. We used to start with logos. It cost everyone a month.” Nothing in it can be copied onto a competitor’s page without lying.

What the example does not prove: that shorter copy always converts better. It shows how a generic line becomes a checkable one.

## Make it stick across a team

- **Keep a banned list: **one shared document, ten to twenty phrases, updated when a new tell shows up.
- **Keep a facts file: **processes, numbers with dates, client phrases, mistakes. Draft from it, whether the first draft is human or machine.
- **Name an editor: **one person runs the pass before anything ships. Not a committee.
- **Spot check monthly: **pick three live pages and run the competitor-swap test.

If your site, proposals, and social all drift into the same smooth voice, a [brand audit](https://simeoncreatives.com/blog/brand-audit-checklist-identity-drift) will show where. Building a voice that survives a draft from any source is [branding](https://simeoncreatives.com/branding) work. [Contact](https://simeoncreatives.com/contact).

## FAQs

### What does “AI voice” mean here?

Copy written by a large language model (LLM) or by a person imitating one: smooth, balanced, abstract, and interchangeable. It has no specifics only your company could have written. The test is not whether a tool touched it. The test is whether a stranger could tell it came from you.

### Is it wrong to use AI to draft?

No. It is fast for a first pass. The risk is shipping that first pass. The edit pass is where your facts, your constraints, and your rhythm go in. Draft however you like, then run the pass.

### Will AI detectors catch this?

Do not optimize for detectors. They produce false positives and false negatives, and a reader does not run one. Optimize for the reader noticing something specific and true on every screen.

### How long should the edit pass take?

About thirty minutes for a homepage section or a 1,000-word article if the facts are already on the table. If it takes much longer, the problem is missing material, not missing polish. Go collect examples first.

### Do I need a style guide first?

A short one helps. Three “we say” and three “we do not say” lines are enough to start. The longer version lives in your brand voice document. The edit pass works without it, but gets faster with it.