Graphite study identifies 13,000 phrases that reveal AI writing tells
A new study from marketing firm Graphite analyzed writing habits of frontier AI models and identified 13,000 phrases at least twice as common in AI-generated prose as in human writing. Each model version shows unique stylistic quirks, with Claude models moving closer to human word distribution over time while GPT models move further away.
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TechCrunch AIRussell Brandom
Now that LLM-generated prose is everywhere, human beings are eager for ways to sniff it out. While early tells like em-dashes and “delve” are long gone, researchers say there are still plenty of telltale habits that AI models fall back on when writing prose. A new study from the marketing firm Graphite looked at the writing habits of frontier models, sussing out each model’s favorite words and phrases. While old tells like em-dash use have been stamped out, models still fall back on contrast-heavy constructions, with each model version showing its own unique quirks. The biggest surprise is how broad the scope of tells turns out to be. Graphite found 13,000 phrases that were at least twice as common in the AI content as human content — their definition of a “tell.” “It turns out that Claude models are actually getting closer to the human word distribution over time,” Graphite’s chief AI officer Greg Druck told TechCrunch. “And for the GPT models, it’s getting further away.” Studying AI-