Club Benefits
If you use ChatGPT as much as I do, you are aware of a real problem: sometimes it sounds exactly like ChatGPT. The "voice" is a little too polished and uses phrases like "in today's fast-paced world." And while it uses words that I actually use like "game-changer," it uses them a little too much. Oh, and we can't forget the em dash, a beloved element that writers like me have used since we could hold a pencil.
While AI can be helpful, it is completely soulless at the same time. That’s fine if I’m asking for a list of cooking tips or help organizing my calendar. But when I’m writing something that needs to sound personal, thoughtful or even just normal, that overly smooth AI voice can ruin the whole thing.
I've even discovered that when I ask ChatGPT to "edit," it will suck the life out of the whole piece, making it sound "too good" in the wrong way.
The problem with AI writing
The way I think about AI writing is like a good pie crust. Let me explain. Once when my family went to a local farm, I had to stop in the little shop to check out the pies. And while there was a "homemade" look to them, I couldn't help but notice that the crust on each one was a little too perfect. When I inquired about whether the pies were homemade, the cashier told me they were not. But, I didn't even have to taste them to know. Using AI to write while keeping it authentic is important.
AI writing is similar; it's easy to tell that it's not "homemade." The sentences are balanced and the transitions are too neat. And while the tone is pleasant, there's no personality or sense that a real person with actual thoughts, opinions and interruptions wrote it.
So I started using a simple “humanize” prompt whenever a draft felt too stiff. I didn’t want ChatGPT to rewrite everything from scratch. I wanted it to take what was already there and make it sound more like a person.
The ChatGPT 'humanize' prompt
The prompt I wrote to humanize AI is: "Rewrite this so it sounds more human, natural and conversational while keeping the meaning the same. Avoid sounding overly polished, robotic or corporate. Use varied sentence length, contractions where appropriate and a more relaxed rhythm. Keep it clear, specific and useful, but make it feel like it was written by a smart person talking to another person — not an AI trying to impress someone."
If you're writing a cover letter, corporate email or similar, you can also add the line: "Do not make this sound inspirational, salesy or like LinkedIn."
Adding that extra sentence helps because when ChatGPT tries to sound “human,” it can sometimes swing too far in the other direction and become oddly motivational. Suddenly a normal paragraph about organizing your inbox starts sounding like a commencement speech.
Why this prompt works
This prompt gives ChatGPT a clearer target and a little more context. The "humanize" prompt tells ChatGPT what not to do. So, rather than sounding overly polished and salesy or flattening every sentence, you'll get varied sentence length, contractions and a more conversational rhythm.
Human writing is not perfectly even. It speeds up and slows down. Sometimes a sentence is short and sometimes a side thought pops up. ChatGPT’s default writing often tries too hard to be universally acceptable. The humanize prompt gives it permission to sound a little more specific.
Using the 'Humanize' prompt on a real paragraph
Hear me out. Not all of us have been writing "forever" or have a degree in English. Some may even be poetic but simply have way too much on their plate to even write a simple email. And, some may be qualified for a job but can't find the right words to say it. For reasons like that, I think AI for writing is perfectly fine.
Here's what happened when I tested this prompt on a stiff paragraph:
Artificial intelligence tools can significantly improve productivity by helping users organize ideas, generate drafts and refine written communication. However, many AI-generated responses can feel overly formal or impersonal, which may reduce their effectiveness for readers seeking a more authentic tone.
There’s nothing technically wrong with this. It’s clear. It makes sense. But it also sounds generic.
When I ran it through the humanize prompt. Here’s what ChatGPT gave me:
AI tools can be genuinely useful when you’re trying to organize ideas, get a draft started or clean up your writing. But the problem is that AI-generated text can sometimes feel stiff and impersonal. It may say the right thing, but it doesn’t always sound like something a real person would actually write.
That version is immediately better. Still, it's not wildly creative, but it sounds more natural. The biggest improvement is rhythm. You'll notice the revised version has a clearer flow.
The best use is not replacing your voice
To be clear, it would be a mistake to use this prompt to make every piece of writing sound casually "human."
The best use of the humanize prompt is as a cleanup pass. You still want the ideas, opinions and structure to come from you. But once you have a draft, especially one that has been shaped with AI, this prompt helps remove the parts that feel too obviously AI-generated.
As with anything, AI works best when it starts with something human. If you ask ChatGPT to write from nothing and then humanize it, the result can still feel generic. But if you give it your own messy paragraph, your own point of view or your own half-formed idea, it has more personality to preserve.
The takeaway
AI writing doesn't have to be taboo anymore. I can't believe I just wrote that, but it's true. As someone who was published at age 8 and has been writing ever since, I believe it's fine to lean on AI to help you refine your existing story. Just don't use this prompt blindly to do all the work for you.
Give it a try and, depending on what you’re writing, add more specific instructions. And that may be the real trick to using ChatGPT for writing. Don’t ask it to sound human from the start. Give it something human to work with, then ask it to stop sounding like a machine. The goal is to make it sound like a real person wrote it with a real audience in mind.
I'd love to hear what you think of this prompt and AI writing in general. Share your thoughts in the comments.
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More from Tom’s Guide
- I tried the ‘Goldfish Prompt’ with ChatGPT — and it instantly stopped my overthinking
- I asked ChatGPT to apply Lewis Howes’ ‘Greatness’ mindset to my life — and it completely changed how I approach work
- I gave ChatGPT permission to disagree with me with this prompt — and its responses became dramatically better
