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I've started recognising AI writing. They all sound the same no matter who's writing them. They are fairly structured. I’ve been reading for decades. Books, essays, old blogs from RSS days when people wrote badly but honestly. Everyone had what you'd call rough edges in their writing. Now I open LinkedIn and Medium and Substack and it’s like the same person learned to write and decided to speak through all of us. The writing, articulation, voice, perspectives doesn't evolve with time anymore. Topics change but the core craft of expression remains the same now.

Sometimes what gives it away isn’t grammar or em-dashes. It's lack of deep opinion, lack of a concrete point or even how the writing sounds in your head. This AI slop is everywhere now and even in performance reviews folks write before their appraisal cycle.

Folks who are fragmented and struggling on Slack write well articulated long and descriptive versions of their work for performance reviews. Everyone suddenly upgraded in writing and penmanship.

Technology isn't the problem, of course. Maybe we stopped valuing substance and voice as long as it's something acceptable. In that chase, we're making everyone sound identical.