Why AI writing sounds like AI, and the four dials I built to fix it

I was tired of watching Google's AI answers take traffic from my affiliate sites. So I built SyndiCalito, and the first thing I tested was how its writing sounded.

Here's what I learned the hard way: banning words doesn't work. Ban "delve" and the model reaches for "embark" instead. The real problem is sameness. Ten articles on ten different topics open the same way, reach for the same kitchen comparison, and talk to you like a customer service rep.

So every voice in SyndiCalito has four dials:

• Humor: dry and deadpan, never mean

• Analogies: garages, tools and sports, never the kitchen

• Angle: start from the mistake a beginner makes

• Relationship: a friend across the table

Set them once, and your articles keep your voice. A Polish pass at the end cleans up the leftover AI habits.

I wrote up the full story, plus a template you can paste into any AI tool, here: https://carlstarus.medium.com/the-quest-for-ai-voice-humanization-how-i-fixed-it-in-syndicalito-d722ada8717f

One question: what's the first thing that gives AI writing away to you?

Carl