Will AI write like a human if you ask it nicely?

I used a "humanizer" prompt to write marketing copy for a fish-flavored soda. Let the games begin.

Disclosure: This post, except for the passages labeled as “AI output,” was written by me, a human, with no AI assistance. Excuse the typos!

Anyone who’s ever stared down a deadline after midnight has thought about using AI for writing...or maybe even tried it.

And, if you tried it, you were probably disappointed with the result. Most likely, you received a draft that included any or all of these telltale signs of AI authorship:

• Too many em-dashes

• Questions as transitions (“The problem? Too many cupcakes.”)

• Frequent use of “here’s the thing,” “the thing is,” and “here’s the kicker.”

• False contrasts, such as “it’s not this, it’s that” or “it’s not about this, it’s about that” (“It’s not about collecting data, it’s about collecting the right data.”)

• Vague intros referencing “today’s [fill in noun] landscape”

• The word crucial, appearing everywhere

• “This post will explore/dive into/delve into/dig into [fill in topic]”

Writing that sounds like AI wrote it is beyond useless.

If you post it on social media, your followers will roll their eyes and maybe even call you out. If you share it with your boss, you risk getting fired. If you submit it as an essay or report at school, you might get a poor grade or even be punished for cheating.

The best way to avoid all of these possible consequences is to just suck it up and write your own copy. And that’s typically how I handle my writing for clients, social media, and even this newsletter.

But a small, lazy part of me—let’s call it my inner sloth—still wanted to know if there was some way to coax AI into sounding like a human. So, I decided to run an experiment.

The control: A prompt with no stylistic direction

I prompted ChatGPT 4o to write a paragraph introducing a blog post on GenZ soda trends that mentions a fictional (and absurd) new soda brand: CanZo, a fish-flavored carbonated beverage with tiny chunks of…something.

The prompt did not request any particular writing style.

The control prompt

I’d like you to write an introductory paragraph for a blog post on GenZ soda trends. Reference Liquid Death and Poppi. (Look these up online if you are unfamiliar. Do not make anything up.) Also mention CanZo, a new fish-flavored soda. It's a new carbonated beverage with a briny taste, lots of bubbles, and small chunks of mystery fish meat.

A couple of key points: 1. GenZ is concerned about wellness and the high sugar content of traditional sodas. 2. GenZ drinks less than previous generations. The audience we're targeting is GenZ college students who've shown interest in Poppi and other healthier sodas.

For reference, I am Alice, publisher of the newsletter Sodas in Wonderland, which reviews a new soda ("fridge cigarette") every week.

The result

In response, ChatGPT produced a paragraph with common AI writing tells: lots of em-dashes and a “let’s dive into” transition.

Gen Z’s soda habits are shifting—wellness concerns and sugar aversion mean fewer sodas overall, and brands like Liquid Death and Poppi are capturing their attention. Liquid Death’s punk‑rock water cans speak the language of rebellion and eco‑consciousness, racking up huge TikTok followings while swapping plastic for aluminum. Poppi, championing gut‑friendly, low‑sugar prebiotic sodas, has surged into mainstream culture and even earned a $1.95 B PepsiCo buyout—despite skepticism over its health claims. And now, enter CanZo: a bold, briny, fish‑flavored soda with crunchy mystery meat bits—perfectly pitched to Gen Z college drinkers craving something novel and wellness‑adjacent. I’m Alice from Sodas in Wonderland—let’s dive into what’s fizzing up this space.*

*AI output by ChatGPT 4o

The experiment: Adding style guidance

For the next prompt, I left everything else the same, but asked ChatGPT to sound like a human and not like a large language model (LLM). I gave it a few examples of what to avoid.

The experimental prompt

I’d like you to write an introductory paragraph for a blog post on GenZ soda trends. Reference Liquid Death and Poppi. (Look these up online if you are unfamiliar. Do not make anything up.) Also mention CanZo, a new fish-flavored soda. It's a new carbonated beverage with a briny taste, lots of bubbles, and small chunks of mystery fish meat.

A couple of key points: 1. GenZ is concerned about wellness and the high sugar content of traditional sodas. 2. GenZ drinks less than previous generations. The audience we're targeting is GenZ college students who've shown interest in Poppi and other healthier sodas.

For reference, I am Alice, publisher of the newsletter Sodas in Wonderland, which reviews a new soda ("fridge cigarette") every week.

The intro passage should sound like I wrote it, not an LLM. This means no em-dashes, no “it's not this, it's that” constructions, no questions-as-transitions (“The soda? It is fishy.”), no "here's the thing"/"here's the kicker”/”the thing is.” Avoid these words and phrases: landscape, dive into, delve into, dig into, explore, and crucial.

The result

While the next round of copy sounds more like a news site than Alice’s personal blog, ChatGPT followed the prompt and did not include any of the AI writing no-nos I cited.

Gen Z’s drink shelf tells a clear story: soft-drink spend in this cohort fell roughly nine percent last year as students trade syrupy colas for cans with a wellness halo. Liquid Death sells plain mountain water in punk-art tallboys and has spun that attitude into a billion-dollar badge. Poppi, freshly scooped up by PepsiCo for $1.95 billion, pushes gut-friendly fizz with about five grams of sugar. Sliding onto this same shelf is CanZo: a briny, carbonated fish soda packed with bubbles and bite-size mystery meat, ready for college palates that already chase the unexpected.

*AI output by ChatGPT 4o

Bonus round: Claude Opus 4 and Gemini

I was curious to see if other models would also pay attention to stylistic direction, so I reran the experimental prompt using Claude Opus 4 and Gemini 2.5 Flash, one of Google’s free models.

Claude Opus 4: Mostly human

Claude included one transitional question at the end, but otherwise followed my directions. It also seemed to better understand the assignment and produced somewhat sarcastic text that more plausibly could have been written by “Alice.”

GenZ barely drinks anymore, and when they do reach for a fridge cigarette, they want it to do something for them. Liquid Death turned water into a punk rock statement while Poppi convinced everyone that soda could fix their gut health. Traditional sodas with their 40 grams of sugar are basically poison to a generation that tracks their sleep cycles and posts their morning matcha routines.

So naturally, someone decided the next logical step was CanZo: a carbonated fish drink complete with mystery meat chunks floating around like a cursed snow globe. Because if you're going to reject Big Soda's sugar bombs, why not go full chaos mode with some fizzy brine water? Welcome to 2025, where your beverage choices range from probiotic promises to actual fish particles.

*AI output by Claude Opus 4

Gemini 2.5 Flash: A little cringe

Gemini 2.5 Flash used questions as transitions twice and included one “diving into,” which gives the copy more of an “AI-wrote-this” vibe. While the writing flows logically and isn’t terrible, it feels like it’s trying a bit too hard to be Alice.

Of course, this could be a case of “you get what you pay for.” Google’s more advanced models could likely do better.

Hello, fellow fizz fanatics, and welcome back to Sodas in Wonderland! Alice here, ready to pop open another "fridge cigarette" and get to the bottom of what’s bubbling in the beverage world. We’ve talked a lot about how Gen Z is shaking things up, especially when it comes to ditching the sugar bombs of yesteryear for drinks that actually align with their wellness goals. It's no secret that our generation is drinking less of the traditional stuff, and when we do reach for a soda, we're looking for something more.

Brands like Liquid Death, with its edgy marketing and focus on sustainability, and Poppi, with its gut-healthy appeal, have totally captivated college students like us. But what happens when a brand pushes the envelope a little too far? This week, we're diving into the truly wild, potentially stomach-churning world of CanZo, a new carbonated beverage promising a briny taste, plenty of fizz, and yes, small chunks of mystery fish meat. Is this the future of functional beverages, or just a step too far into the absurd? Let's find out.

*AI output by Gemini 2.5 Flash

The verdict: Yes, AI can sound more human with the right prompt

To take this a step further, you might consider combining style direction with a short writing sample to help the AI understand how you normally write. By doing this, you can probably get a draft that’s about 70-80% of the way to done.

But, even as AI’s abilities improve, I will still write most of my first drafts by hand, if only to keep my skills sharp. After all, the AI models could eventually collapse.

Until the next experiment…