Stop Sounding Like AI: My Banned Words List + Prompts
I just got back from Empire Essentials last week, and I realized something I probably should have realized a while ago.
I live in an AI and technology bubble.
I use ChatGPT or some form of AI every day. I teach it. I build with it. I argue with it. I tell it when something sounds nothing like me. I make it try again. And again. I adore technology.
I use these tools so much, I sometimes forget that a LOT of people are still figuring this stuff out.
ChatGPT has been around for years now, but that doesn't mean everyone has been using it for years.
Some people are opening it for the first time. Some have used it here and there.
Some are using it regularly, but nobody ever taught them what to do after ChatGPT spits out that first answer.
And after a lot of conversations this past week, I realized there's still a huge learning opportunity here. This isn't about calling anyone out for “using AI wrong.”
Quite the opposite. I think those of us who live in this stuff have skipped a few steps when we've been teaching it. Because typing a prompt into ChatGPT is the easy part.
Teaching it to sound like YOU? That's where the work starts.
ChatGPT Doesn't Automatically Know What You Sound Like
You open ChatGPT and type:
“Write me a LinkedIn post about commercial real estate.”
And ChatGPT happily gets to work.
The grammar is correct.
It's organized.
It sounds professional.
And it sounds absolutely nothing like you.
Maybe it tells people you're going to “delve into the ever-changing landscape.”
Maybe it wants you to “unlock your potential.”
Maybe there are 47 em dashes.
Maybe suddenly you're “empowering professionals to navigate today's dynamic market.”
WHO IS THIS PERSON?
This is where I think people get frustrated. They assume either AI isn't very good at writing, or this is simply what AI writing sounds like. But there's another option. You haven't taught it what YOU sound like yet.
I Have an Entire List of Things my ChatGPT Isn't Allowed to Say
Over time, I've built what I lovingly refer to as my banned words list.
Except it isn't only words anymore.
There are phrases.
Punctuation.
Sentence structures.
Formatting habits.
Those weird little AI patterns that once you see them, you cannot unsee them.
Some are common AI tells. Some are perfectly lovely words that I personally cannot stand. That's the point. My list isn't a universal guide to good writing.
It's a guide to writing like ME.
I don't use em dashes.
I don't want everything turned into a perfectly polished marketing statement.
I don't want every idea packaged into three beautifully coordinated adjectives.
And please, for the love of Linda, not everything needs to be “It's not about X. It's about Y.”
My ChatGPT knows these things about me because I've told it. Repeatedly.
You Are Allowed to Tell ChatGPT No
This sounds ridiculously obvious once you say it out loud.
But I don't think we teach this enough.
You do not have to accept the first thing ChatGPT gives you.
You can say:
“No.”
“That doesn't sound like me.”
“I would never say that.”
“Too corporate.”
“You changed the part I liked.”
“Why did you rewrite that?”
“That sounds like AI.”
“Go back.”
“Keep my words and fix the part that's confusing.”
Or one of my personal favorites:
“Absolutely not.”
Here's the part that matters.
Tell it WHY.
If you hate a phrase, tell it.
If it removed something that sounded like you, tell it to put it back.
If the rewrite is technically better but somehow sounds less like you, SAY THAT.
Those little corrections matter.
This Wasn't Built With One Magical Prompt
I've actually learned this lesson from the opposite direction, too.
I've been experimenting with other AI tools and trying to teach them to work with me the way ChatGPT does. And it is surprisingly difficult.
I can give another AI my banned words.
I can give it my brand voice.
I can explain how I like things formatted.
I can give it examples of my writing.
I can hand it a giant document explaining how I think and work.
And it still isn't the same. What I've built with ChatGPT wasn't built with one magical prompt. It was built through thousands of tiny corrections. No, I hate that word. Don't rewrite that part. That's too polished. You're agreeing with me again.
I don't think that's right. Check it. Go back to the first version. That sounds nothing like me. YES. That. More like that. Those tiny interactions add up.
And This Is REALLY Important
I am not promising that you can paste one prompt into ChatGPT and suddenly it will know you perfectly.
It won't.
There is no magic prompt that instantly turns ChatGPT into your best friend, business partner, copywriter, assistant, therapist, marketing department, and person who knows exactly what you meant when you typed six misspelled words at 11:47 p.m.
That's not how this works.
The prompts I created are a STARTING POINT.
They help you begin teaching AI how you communicate, what you like, what you hate, and how you want it to work with you. Then you have to keep participating.
Correct it.
Give it feedback.
Question it.
Tell it when it missed the mark.
And this part matters too: tell it when it absolutely nailed something and WHY. You're not programming a machine once and walking away. You're building a working relationship.
What If ChatGPT Doesn't Know Me Yet?
Good.
Seriously.
You don't need years of ChatGPT history to start doing this.
If you've been using ChatGPT for a while, you can ask it to look for patterns in the corrections you've already made.
But if you're brand new?
We can start from scratch.
Instead of asking ChatGPT to magically figure you out, have it interview you.
One question at a time.
How do you naturally talk?
Do you swear?
Do you like short sentences?
Do you hate corporate language?
Are you funny?
Dry funny? Sarcastic funny? Dad-joke funny?
Do you want it to challenge you when it thinks you're wrong?
How polished do you want professional writing to sound?
What words make you immediately roll your eyes?
And if you don't know the answer, ChatGPT can give you examples and let you choose which sounds most like you.
Your AI Shouldn't Sound Like Mine
This might be the most important part of this entire thing. Please don't take my banned words list, copy every rule, and tell ChatGPT that you're never allowed to use those things again.
If you naturally use a phrase I hate, KEEP IT.
If you adore an em dash, live your best em dash life.
If you say “here's the thing” seventeen times a day, banning it because someone told you it sounds like AI would actually make your writing sound LESS like you.
That's not the goal. My ChatGPT shouldn't sound like yours.
Yours shouldn't sound like mine. We're not trying to create another version of Generic Internet Person. We're trying to keep YOU in the work.
I Made You Something
I put together my actual banned words, phrases, AI writing tells, and the prompts I use to teach ChatGPT how I want to work.
But more importantly, I included prompts that help you build YOUR version!
If ChatGPT already knows you, there's a prompt to help it dig through your history and identify the patterns you've already taught it.
If ChatGPT barely knows your name, there's a prompt that has it interview you one question at a time.
There are prompts to audit your writing for AI tells.
Prompts to stop ChatGPT from rewriting perfectly good sentences simply because it can.
Prompts to help it learn your voice.
And one of my favorites: a prompt that tells it to stop agreeing with you all the damn time.
Because I don't need AI to tell me every idea I have is brilliant. (I know most are lol)
I need it to be useful.
I put the whole thing into a free download.
It costs $0.
You'll enter your name and email at checkout, and you'll get the PDF.
Inside you'll find my banned words and writing rules plus copy-and-paste prompts you can use to start building your own.
And remember:
This isn't a magic prompt.
You aren't going to paste something once and have ChatGPT understand everything about you forever.
This is where you START.
Then keep talking to it.
Keep correcting it.
Keep teaching it.
Keep telling it when something sounds like you and when it absolutely does not.
Use AI to help you think.
Use it to organize.
Use it to challenge you.
Use it to get unstuck.
Use it to make your ideas clearer.
Don't hand it your voice and walk away.
That's still yours.
To make ChatGPT sound more like you, you need to teach it your writing preferences, give it examples of your actual writing, correct it when it gets your voice wrong, and continue giving it feedback over time. There isn't one magic prompt that does all of this for you.
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