A list of words that AI over-uses

Below is a simple list of words that AI overuses. I have scoured the web to find various lists of words that are overused by various AIs from Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude, Qwen, Deepseek and several others. I then spent an awful lot of time cross-referencing them. And upon building the list, I used the excellent GPTZero AI Vocabulary checker – which is highly recommended – to show results (or not) when overused AI words were used.

After all of this, whenever I asked various AI chat bots to NOT use the list of words and phrases below, the content produced by each chatbot (especially Gemini) became much better for it. In my experience, ChatGPT (various versions) was not the best at this, surprisingly. Deepseek was OK, but Gemini was surprisingly the best at writing content while avoiding such words.

Does removing these ‘dead words’ and phrases mean that AI content is then undetectable?

No. Absolutely not. AI content gets detected in many more ways than just a list of overused words/phrases.

By omitting these words (I typically request this for any content I ask for by uploading a text file – some AIs are better than others at sticking to this, even if you tell them 100 times), all content written using AI was still deemed as somewhere between 90-100% ‘AI written’ when checked with GPTZero.

But interestingly, after leaving out these words from content output, manually converting the AI-generated content into content flagged as ‘written by a human’ took much less time. It probably took less than a third of the time to change AI content into human content when the list of words and phrases below was not used in the content. That’s some kind of progress I think in the battle against detection of AI content.

I do think that trying to convince Google and others that AI content is human-written is a losing battle, and won’t spend much more time on it, other than these few days of experimentation. But it was fun while it lasted.

What could this experiment help you with when writing content?

Well, let’s say you were asked to write a few hundred words about how SEO has changed over the years for a page on a website. By first asking your preferred AI to avoid any mentions of the words and phrases below, and then asking it to give you a history of how SEO has changed, you will almost certainly be given a piece of content that has lots of research embedded in it that you would have had to spend a few hours or more to find. Again, just for reference, I have found Gemini 2.0 Flash to be the best for this at the time of writing, but you do you.

And because you will be returned a somewhat structured piece of content, with no ‘poison’ or ‘dead’ words, you can then – rather quickly – make something that would be 90%+ detected as AI content into something that would be 90%+ detected as human content. An extra tip is if you used a ‘web search’ option when you make a query, which will mean your AI will also check the web for data, which should lead to better information (if your preferred AI has this option).

I would say that this method of working would be good for any content that is under 500 words. Things such as product descriptions or city pages of a website are good examples. But I would strongly suggest that you use a quality AI detector like the aforementioned GPTZero (I have no affiliation, it’s just good software).

And finally, the AI word list

Now, a bit of a disclaimer. I don’t advise in any way, shape, or form, that you write using AI for your websites. By all means, use AI to help write internal documents, or indeed anything in which your content is not used online. As long as it reads well, of course.

And finally, the list of AI-overused words and phrases (as of March 2025). I will add to this list in due course. * Updated 18th March 2025 with even more words/phrases.

• • a journey of
  • a multitude of
  • a plethora of
  • a testament to
  • accordingly
  • actionable insights
  • adept
  • adoption rate
  • aforementioned
  • agile
  • ai-powered
  • aligns
  • ample opportunities
  • amplify
  • arduous
  • as a result
  • as such
  • at length
  • at the end of the day
  • augment
  • bandwidth
  • based on the information provided
  • basic
  • best practices
  • blockchain-enabled
  • brand awareness
  • broadly speaking
  • burgeoning
  • cannot be overstated
  • capacity building
  • captivating
  • certainly, [here are / here is / here’s]
  • change management
  • cloud-based
  • cognizant
  • collaborative environment
  • commendable
  • competitive landscape
  • complexity
  • conceptualize
  • conducting
  • consequently
  • considerable
  • continuous improvement
  • core
  • corporate social responsibility
  • cost optimization
  • craft
  • critical
  • crucial
  • customer loyalty
  • customer satisfaction
  • customer-centric
  • cutting-edge
  • data-driven
  • decision-makers
  • deep dive
  • deep dive into
  • deep understanding
  • deliverables
  • delve
  • delve into
  • delved
  • delving
  • delving into the intricacies of
  • demonstrates significant
  • deployment plan
  • digital realm
  • digital transformation
  • disruptive innovation
  • domain expertise
  • downtime
  • drive
  • driven approach
  • driving innovation
  • dynamic
  • dynamic environment
  • efficiency
  • elevate
  • embark
  • embark on a journey
  • embark on a voyage
  • embarked
  • emerging technologies
  • empower
  • enable
  • encountered hurdles
  • enhance
  • enhancing
  • enlightening
  • enriches
  • entails
  • entrenched
  • epicenter
  • essential
  • essentially
  • esteemed
  • ethical considerations
  • ever-evolving
  • excels
  • exciting
  • exemplary
  • expertise
  • explore
  • facilitate
  • flourishing
  • folks
  • for example
  • for instance
  • foray
  • foster
  • foster innovation
  • fostering
  • fresh perspectives
  • from inception to execution
  • fundamental
  • fundamentally
  • furthermore
  • future-proof
  • game changer
  • game-changer
  • generally speaking
  • given that
  • glean
  • going forward
  • golden ticket
  • governance framework
  • granular
  • granular detail
  • granular level
  • granularly
  • grasp
  • groundbreaking
  • growing recognition
  • hence
  • herein
  • heretofore
  • high-level
  • hinder
  • holistic
  • holistically
  • however
  • impactful
  • implementation strategy
  • implications
  • important to consider
  • in a sea of
  • in brief
  • in conclusion
  • in detail
  • in effect
  • in essence
  • in general
  • in light of
  • in other words
  • in particular
  • in practice
  • in summary
  • in terms of
  • in the dynamic world of
  • in the realm of
  • in theory
  • in today’s rapidly evolving market
  • in today’s world
  • industry best practices
  • influencers
  • innovative
  • insights into
  • invaluable
  • issue resolution
  • it is important to note
  • it is worth noting
  • it’s important to note/consider
  • it’s important to remember
  • it’s worth noting that
  • iteration
  • kaleidoscope
  • key
  • key takeaways
  • knowledge transfer
  • kpis (key performance indicators)
  • landscape
  • latency
  • leverage
  • linchpin
  • low-level
  • manifold
  • market penetration
  • market share
  • market trends
  • maximize
  • milestone
  • mission-critical
  • moreover
  • moving forward
  • multifaceted
  • mvp (minimum viable product)
  • namely
  • navigating the [landscape]/[complexities of]
  • navigating the landscape
  • nevertheless
  • new heights
  • next-generation
  • notable
  • notwithstanding
  • nuanced
  • numerous
  • offboarding
  • offer a comprehensive
  • offerings
  • on the ascent to
  • on the contrary
  • on the cutting edge
  • on the other hand
  • onboarding
  • Operational efficiency
  • operational excellence
  • optimize
  • pain point
  • paradigm
  • paradigm shift
  • paramount
  • particularly in areas
  • performance optimization
  • pervasive
  • pivotal
  • plethora
  • poc (proof of concept)
  • preemptively
  • primary
  • problem solving
  • process optimization
  • profitability
  • profound
  • promote
  • pronged
  • quality assurance
  • quality control
  • rapidly evolving
  • reaching new heights
  • realm
  • recognize
  • regulatory compliance
  • relentless
  • remarkable
  • resonate
  • resource allocation
  • resource optimization
  • revenue growth
  • risk mitigation
  • roadmap
  • robust
  • roi (return on investment)
  • root cause analysis
  • scalable
  • scrum
  • seamless
  • secondary
  • shed light
  • shedding light on
  • showcasing
  • significant
  • significantly contributes
  • simply put
  • sla (service level agreement)
  • solution development
  • specifically
  • specifically speaking
  • sprint
  • stakeholders
  • state-of-the-art
  • strategic alignment
  • streamline
  • strive
  • strong presence
  • subject matter experts
  • substantial
  • substantially
  • sustainability
  • synergistically
  • synergy
  • systemic
  • tailor
  • tapestry
  • tco (total cost of ownership)
  • tertiary
  • that being said
  • the future of
  • the linchpin of
  • the next frontier
  • the power of
  • the road ahead
  • thereby
  • therefore
  • therein
  • thereof
  • thought leaders
  • thought leadership
  • thought-provoking
  • thrive
  • thriving
  • throughput
  • thus
  • time optimization
  • to clarify
  • to demonstrate
  • to elevate
  • to elucidate
  • to emphasize
  • to empower
  • to enhance
  • to enrich
  • to exemplify
  • to facilitate
  • to furnish
  • to highlight
  • to illustrate
  • to maximize
  • to provide
  • to reiterate
  • to shed light on
  • to showcase
  • to summarize
  • to thrive
  • to underscore
  • to unleash
  • to unlock
  • touchpoint
  • transformation
  • transformative
  • transforming the way
  • treasure trove
  • ultimately
  • uncharted waters
  • undeniable
  • underscores
  • understanding of your unique
  • undoubtedly
  • unleash
  • unlock
  • unparalleled
  • uptime
  • user engagement
  • user experience
  • user feedback
  • user interface
  • utilize
  • utmost
  • valuable
  • value proposition
  • value-added
  • various
  • vast
  • vibrant
  • vital
  • well-crafted
  • whilst
  • whilst it is true
  • widely recognized
  • with a keen eye on
  • with regards to

I hope you find this useful. I will add any further keywords that are found to be overly used by AI here. Also, please email me at j.welch@embryo.com if you find any other words and phrases that should be on this list.