AI words to avoid, and what to write instead

The best-known chatbot tell. It promises depth and then gives a summary. People rarely say it out loud.

Try instead: look at · dig into · cover · or just name the topic

Sounds strategic but usually just means use. Readers in business settings skim past it.

Try instead: use · apply · build on

A power-plant metaphor for ordinary use. It adds drama, not information.

Try instead: use · put to work · run

A vague verb for cause and effect. It hides who did what.

Try instead: build · encourage · say what changed

A voyage word for starting something. Usually followed by "on a journey".

Try instead: start · begin · set out to

Motivational verb with no mechanism. Elevate how, and by how much?

Try instead: improve · raise · say the result

Marketing gloss on show. Common in chatbot product copy.

Try instead: show · present · include

Announces that something matters instead of showing why.

Try instead: show why · give the consequence

Turns every problem into terrain. "Navigate the complexities" is a common pairing.

Try instead: handle · work through · deal with

Implies a hidden prize behind a door. Usually followed by "potential".

Try instead: get · reach · make possible

A real word, overused to mean "make better" without saying how.

Try instead: simplify · cut steps · say which steps

Grants power without saying what anyone can now do.

Try instead: let · help · give access to

A formal intensifier for support or increase.

Try instead: strengthen · add to · support

A military verb for leading a project. Reads as résumé filler.

Try instead: lead · run · start

Claims a revolution. Most products change one workflow.

Try instead: change · replace · say what's different

Correct in engineering, vague elsewhere. Optimize for what?

Try instead: speed up · cut · tune for

A bureaucratic way to say help or run.

Try instead: help · run · make easier

A longer spelling of use. It adds syllables, not meaning.

Try instead: use

Claims an emotional effect without evidence.

Try instead: matter to · appeal to · say who responded

A light metaphor for explain.

Try instead: explain · show · make clear

A gardening metaphor for build or grow.

Try instead: build · grow · develop

Theatrical word for announce or release.

Try instead: announce · release · show

Claims a total change. Usually one thing improved.

Try instead: change · improve · say what changed

Travel-brochure verb for has. Chatbots use it in every place description.

Try instead: has · offers · includes

Effort without outcome. What did you achieve?

Try instead: try · aim · say the result

Fine in contracts. In copy it's a promise with no method.

Try instead: make sure · check · say how

A weaving metaphor for any mix of things. It hides what the parts are.

Try instead: mix · range · name the parts

A fantasy word for an ordinary area or field.

Try instead: area · field · topic

An abstract stand-in for a real market or field.

Try instead: the market · the field · name it

Turns any process into a quest. Common in onboarding and wellness copy.

Try instead: process · path · the steps

"A testament to" announces proof without giving it.

Try instead: shows · proves · give the evidence

A lighthouse metaphor for an example or leader.

Try instead: example · leader · model

A building metaphor for main part or basis.

Try instead: basis · main part · core

The classic buzzword for things working together.

Try instead: working together · combined effect · say the result

Academic word for model or approach, inflated in everyday copy.

Try instead: model · approach · way of working

A biology metaphor for a group of products or companies.

Try instead: set of tools · network · the products

Suggests a subtle relationship without describing it.

Try instead: how X affects Y · the link between

A big-sounding word for many.

Try instead: many · dozens · give the number

Another inflated word for many, often used where "some" would do.

Try instead: many · a lot of · give the number

A music metaphor for things working together.

Try instead: mix · combination · name the parts

A maze metaphor for anything complicated.

Try instead: maze · tangle · say what's confusing

A pirate metaphor for a useful collection.

Try instead: collection · archive · a lot of

Claims a change in the rules of the game. Rarely true.

Try instead: big improvement · say what changed

A vague plural that could mean data, findings or opinions.

Try instead: findings · data · what we learned

Hints at complexity and then skips it.

Try instead: details · how it works · the hard parts

A crowd word for many.

Try instead: many · lots of · give the number

Signals subtlety without supplying any.

Try instead: detail · exception · say the exception

Turns a tool into a force. "Harness the power of" is a common pairing.

Try instead: drop it · say what the tool does

A slide-deck heading pasted into prose.

Try instead: what to remember · summary · or just list them

A catch-all for people who care. Who exactly?

Try instead: customers · staff · investors · name them

Claims strength without saying how. Right for statisticians, vague in product copy.

Try instead: say what it survives (load, errors, edge cases)

Every product claims it, so nobody believes it.

Try instead: describe the steps that disappear

Inflates importance.

Try instead: key · deciding · or show the consequence

An intensifier that replaces the reason something matters.

Try instead: important · necessary · say why

Same job as crucial. Often in "plays a vital role".

Try instead: needed · important · say why

Promises completeness. Readers assume it isn't.

Try instead: full · complete · say what's covered

Claims newness with a cliché.

Try instead: new · latest · name the technology

Self-applied, it means little. Let the reader decide.

Try instead: new · first · say what's new

A filler adjective for anything that changes or moves.

Try instead: changing · fast · active · or drop it

Claims a big change without describing it.

Try instead: say what changed, and how much

Claims care instead of describing the process.

Try instead: careful · say what you check

Claims complexity, then moves on.

Try instead: detailed · complex · show one detail

The default chatbot adjective for cities, colors and communities.

Try instead: lively · bright · say what's there

Always paired with markets and cities in AI travel copy.

Try instead: busy · crowded

Real-estate cliché for located.

Try instead: in · near · between

Means "looks at the whole thing" but rarely says which parts.

Try instead: whole · complete · name the parts

A claim reserved for actual breakthroughs, used for everything.

Try instead: new · first · say what's new

An unprovable superlative.

Try instead: best · or show the comparison

Usually attached to a landscape. Everything changes.

Try instead: changing · or say what changed

Claims huge value without a number.

Try instead: useful · say what it saved

Inflates an effect or idea.

Try instead: deep · large · show the effect

Tells the reader they're convinced.

Try instead: strong · persuasive · give the reason

Tells the reader they're interested.

Try instead: interesting · say what happens

Means "does several things" — then list them.

Try instead: flexible · name the uses

A formal superlative for important.

Try instead: most important · first

A ceremonial adjective for commitment or support.

Try instead: steady · constant · show it

Tells the reader to be impressed.

Try instead: notable · surprising · show why

Product-update filler for better.

Try instead: better · faster · say how much

A formal connector that chatbots use to start paragraph after paragraph.

Try instead: also · and · or nothing

Same job as furthermore, even more formal.

Try instead: also · and · besides

Adds a point without saying how it relates to the last one.

Try instead: also · and · or start with the point

Fine for real cause and effect; often used for plain sequence.

Try instead: so · as a result

Logic word that sometimes appears without any logic before it.

Try instead: so · that's why

The adverb form of seamless, with the same problem.

Try instead: say what the user doesn't have to do

Points at importance instead of explaining it.

Try instead: drop it · or say why it matters

A sentence opener that signals a conclusion is coming.

Try instead: in the end · or drop it

Softens a claim and adds length.

Try instead: drop it

Hedges a claim instead of supporting it.

Try instead: drop it · or give the argument