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5 Best Practices for Maintaining Authenticity in AI Content

Learn 5 best practices to keep AI content authentic, credible, and true to your brand voice without losing the human touch.

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Short answer

How to make AI content more authentic?

Use customizable tools like Storydoc to tailor content to your specific parameters and audience.
Standardize a human layer of review to scrub away robotic patterns.
Inject professional insights and first-hand data to provide value that AI cannot generate.
Conduct a read-out-aloud stress test to verify the emotional resonance and flow.
Utilize an Authenticity QA check as a final safeguard before publication.

Scroll down to read the full guide ⤵

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The way we create content has changed for good.

Not that long ago, the hardest part for every writer and marketer was staring at a blank cursor blinking on a white screen.

Now, that blank page rarely lasts more than a few seconds. AI helps us generate ideas, structure complex outlines, and draft content almost instantly.

That speed is powerful, but it comes with a trade-off.

If you’ve read enough AI-generated content, you’ve probably noticed a certain “sameness”.

The tone often starts to sound similar from one piece to the next, the structure becomes predictable, and in the worst cases, the text gets completely illogical or prone to hallucinations where it confidently states facts that aren't true.

This creates a sense of staged content that feels inauthentic to the reader.

And when authenticity slips, it affects real business outcomes.

A robotic pitch deck fails to build trust, a generic blog post gets ignored, a cold, AI-generated memo can alienate employees, and an illogical AI response can turn a minor issue into a major frustration.

In this article, let's look at 5 best practices for using AI to enhance your content without losing the human spark that makes it valuable.

1. Use AI tools you can customize

Every piece of content you create has its own fingerprint. It’s shaped by the context it appears in, the people it’s meant to reach, and the channel it’s published on.

A LinkedIn post for C-suite executives shouldn't sound like a TikTok caption for Gen Z, right? Yet too many AI tools treat every content request the same: a one-size-fits-all approach that ignores the brand and audience context.

You can navigate this challenge with customizable AI content generators that let you adjust the tone, format, length, and overall direction of your content.

Storydoc does exactly that for teams that need a more tailored approach in their sales proposal, investor deck, quarterly report, or marketing presentation.

Here's a great example of an interactive Storydoc deck:

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You can create interactive content or collateral that speaks to your brand’s message by clearly defining what it’s for, the format you want, how long it should be, and how in-depth you’d like it to go.

Then, you also describe your audience and their pain point to create a message that aligns with that relationship.

You can also feed in your existing materials - past decks, brand voice guidelines, website URLs, case studies, internal briefs, or any other files you have. The more context you share, the more it can learn about your tone, positioning, and use case.

The tool moves beyond static text by adding interactive elements like clickable tabs, galleries, forms, dynamic CTAs, personalized videos, and even live data integrations.

That means your corporate reports or marketing collateral are built to respond to your stakeholders’ needs and guide them through an experience.

By using an AI that understands these business-specific aspects, you move away from generic summaries and toward authentic, interactive communication that drives real engagement.

2. Add a human layer after every AI step

Remember all those challenges we talked about: the hallucinations, the robotic tone, the generic nonsense? Yeah, they don't just magically disappear because you picked a better tool.

Even the most customizable AI needs a human touch to cross the finish line.

LLMs will help you go 80% of the way in your content drafting journey, but that last 20%, the part that makes content actually connect with humans, requires a human. The "set it and forget it" mentality is the fastest way to lose your audience’s interest.

So here's the move: review everything. And not just a quick skim, really read it. Does it sound like your brand? Would you say these things in a meeting? Are the facts accurate?

An effective way to put it into practice is by standardizing the process of reviewing AI’s output.

How to standardize AI content review

Instead of a vague proofread, editors should work through a checklist that targets the specific areas where AI tends to get generic:

Three examples at a time: AI has a habit of grouping things in threes (e.g., "efficiency, productivity, and growth"). Breaking this rhythm makes the text feel less scripted.
Forced negatives: Watch for clunky phrasing like "It is not uncommon" or "Not without its merits." Human speech is usually more direct.
Filler sentences: Delete the "fluff" paragraphs that use a lot of words to say very little or repeat what was just said.
Transition paragraphs: AI often uses "Furthermore" or "In addition" to bridge ideas. Replace these with logical, context-driven human connections.

To streamline things further, you can consider tools like HumanizeAI.io humanizer, which enhances LLM’s output by adding emotional elements.

It’s a great middle step for teams who want to maintain the efficiency of AI while ensuring the final product has the warmth and nuance of human conversation.

3. Include professional insights in every piece

Want to know the fastest way to tell if something was written by AI? It's missing the stuff only a human would know. The insider stats. The customer anecdote. The "we learned this the hard way" story.

AI can synthesize information that's already out there, but it can't pull from your company's internal data or your team's unique experiences. That's on you to add, and it's exactly what makes your content stand out.

You can capitalize on this opportunity to give your audience something unique to stand out.

The unique elements can be anything, including first-hand data from a recent survey, a quote from your CEO, a case study showing actual results, or even just an opinion that reflects your company's point of view.

These elements differentiate your piece from the 47 other AI-generated articles on the same topic.

The best way to implement this is to provide the central idea, context, desired effect, perspective, and specific logical flow details to the AI before it starts writing.

Then, work iteratively: generate a draft, review it, add in the unique human perspective, regenerate if needed.

Basically, converse with the LLM to produce the right message for your brand. Treating it like a one-and-done task, without iterative review, will only increase the editorial workload down the line.

4. Do a read-out-aloud stress test

Here's a secret weapon that costs nothing and catches everything: read your content out loud. If it makes you cringe or stumble, it's not ready.

AI has a pattern that you’ve probably noticed: definition, explanation, benefits, summary. While this flow is coherent and rational, it is overused. The predictability leads to the “sameness” problem we mentioned in the introduction.

When you read AI content silently, your brain often glosses over these patterns. But when you read it out loud, the lack of emotional and disengaging elements becomes painfully obvious.

You’ll notice where the sentences are all the same length (which sounds incredibly monotonous) or where the logic feels forced.

Some changes you can make to your AI-written draft to pass the read-out-aloud stress test include:

Vary your sentence length: Follow a long, descriptive sentence with a short, punchy one.
Explain things to the reader: AI often gives generic explanations that lack contextual specificity.
Check for AI-isms: If a sentence sounds like something a textbook would say but not something a person would say in a meeting or professional setting, rewrite it.

5. Conduct an authenticity QA check

Before you hit publish, run your content through one final filter: the authenticity check. This is your quality assurance step to make sure what you're putting out there actually represents your brand and adds value to your audience.

Here are the questions to ask:

Did a human meaningfully rewrite sections? (Simply changing two words doesn't count).
Does this contain a real example? (A real-life story, not a "imagine a company that..." scenario).
Are all claims verified? (Double-check every stat and "fact" the AI provided).
Is the brand voice consistent? (Does it sound like the rest of your website?)
Would a competitor publish something identical? (If the answer is yes, your content lacks authenticity).
Does it address real customer objections? (AI often glosses over the hard parts of a business, tends to put a positive spin on everything).
Does it sound like a real person? (The ultimate "vibe check").
Does it add value beyond generic AI summaries? (If the reader could get the same info from a 2-second ChatGPT prompt, why should they read your article?)

Try to get a “yes” for most, if not all, of the questions above.

Turn this into a checklist your team uses before anything goes live. It'll help them catch stuff that slips through the cracks and keep your content quality high across the board.

Wrapping up

AI has become a core part of modern content workflows. It speeds up research, helps structure ideas, and gets you from a blank page to a solid draft in minutes.

However, if you rely on these tools alone, you run into a different problem: lack of authenticity.

AI struggles with nuance. It can’t fully capture lived experience, strong opinions, emotional intelligence, or the subtle tone that makes your brand feel recognizably you.

And when every team leans on the same prompts and outputs, content starts to blur together.

AI works best when you treat it as a collaborator. Let it handle the heavy lifting, but keep the judgment, perspective, and brand control in human hands. That’s how you move faster and still stand out.

FAQs

Can AI produce authentic content?

AI cannot be "authentic" on its own because it lacks lived experiences and genuine emotions. However, it can serve as a powerful foundation. When humans guide the AI with specific brand voices and unique insights, the resulting collaboration can certainly feel authentic.

How can I make AI's content more authentic?

You can increase authenticity by injecting first-hand data, personal anecdotes, and unique professional opinions. Additionally, performing a read-out-aloud test and using tools to add emotional nuance helps break the robotic patterns common in standard AI-generated text and repetitive structures.

Are there AI tools that generate unique content for brands?

Yes, platforms like Storydoc allow for high levels of customization to match your brand's specific style and goals. By using tools designed for personalization rather than generic output, you ensure your business documents and marketing materials resonate deeply with stakeholders.

Carl Torrence

Carl Torrence is a Content Marketer at Marketing Digest. His core expertise lies in developing data-driven content for brands, SaaS businesses, and agencies. In his free time, he enjoys binge-watching time-travel movies and listening to Linkin Park and Coldplay albums.

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