# AI Collaboration Writing > A writer's distinctive voice is the residue of their judgment. An LLM, trained on the global mean of internet prose, regresses toward that mean. The collaboration mode this skill defends keeps the hum Parent: [Writing and Documentation](https://llms-explorer.com/tree/writing-and-documentation/) · 7 facets · 23 facts · page: https://llms-explorer.com/tree/ai-collaboration-writing/ ## The one rule: voice is human-load-bearing; AI is everything else - A writer's distinctive voice is the residue of their judgment. An LLM, trained on the global mean of internet prose, regresses toward that mean. The collaboration mode this skill defends keeps the human responsible for voice and uses AI for tasks where the mean is fine (mechanics, structure, length compression, format conversion). — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/sources/mdb-context-hub/ai-collaboration-writing/#the-one-rule-voice-is-human-load-bearing-ai-is-everything-else) ## The voice-transfer problem - LLMs default to five patterns: — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/sources/mdb-context-hub/ai-collaboration-writing/#the-voice-transfer-problem) - Hedging. "It's worth noting that…" — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/sources/mdb-context-hub/ai-collaboration-writing/#the-voice-transfer-problem) - Triadic rhythm. Three-item lists replace one strong word. — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/sources/mdb-context-hub/ai-collaboration-writing/#the-voice-transfer-problem) - Topic-sentence tax. Every paragraph opens with a meta-sentence. — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/sources/mdb-context-hub/ai-collaboration-writing/#the-voice-transfer-problem) - Latinate verbs. "Utilize," "facilitate," "leverage." — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/sources/mdb-context-hub/ai-collaboration-writing/#the-voice-transfer-problem) - Bridge phrases. "Furthermore," "moreover." — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/sources/mdb-context-hub/ai-collaboration-writing/#the-voice-transfer-problem) ## Tier 1 banned words (anti-AI-isms) - delve, leverage, robust, paradigm, seamless, utilize, commence, facilitate, furthermore, navigate, landscape, cutting-edge, holistic, ecosystem, harness (verb), foster (verb) — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/sources/mdb-context-hub/ai-collaboration-writing/#tier-1-banned-words-anti-ai-isms) ## Where this helps - Editing an AI-drafted email, memo, or article where the argument and facts are sound but the prose has slipped into the LLM's default mean-of-internet voice. — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/tree/ai-collaboration-writing/) *(AI-suggested, synthesized from this pack's existing facts — not extracted from a source document.)* - Reviewing a piece of writing for the five characteristic LLM patterns — hedging, triadic rhythm, topic-sentence tax, Latinate verbs, and bridge phrases — before it goes out under a human byline. — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/tree/ai-collaboration-writing/) *(AI-suggested, synthesized from this pack's existing facts — not extracted from a source document.)* - Deciding which parts of a writing task to hand to an AI (mechanics, structure, first-pass length) versus which parts a human must own (voice, judgment calls, what to say and what to leave out). — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/tree/ai-collaboration-writing/) *(AI-suggested, synthesized from this pack's existing facts — not extracted from a source document.)* - Training a writer or team to self-edit AI-assisted drafts by scanning for the Tier 1 banned-word list before publishing. — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/tree/ai-collaboration-writing/) *(AI-suggested, synthesized from this pack's existing facts — not extracted from a source document.)* ## How to apply this - Treat voice as the one thing that must stay human-load-bearing in any AI-assisted writing workflow, and delegate everything else (formatting, structural scaffolding, first-draft mechanics) to the model. — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/tree/ai-collaboration-writing/) *(AI-suggested, synthesized from this pack's existing facts — not extracted from a source document.)* - Read a draft out loud or scan it specifically for the five voice-transfer failure patterns — hedging phrases, three-item lists standing in for one strong word, meta-sentence paragraph openers, Latinate verbs, and bridge-phrase transitions. — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/tree/ai-collaboration-writing/) *(AI-suggested, synthesized from this pack's existing facts — not extracted from a source document.)* - Run a Tier 1 banned-word pass (delve, leverage, robust, paradigm, seamless, utilize, commence, facilitate, furthermore, navigate, landscape, cutting-edge, holistic, ecosystem, harness, foster) before calling any AI-assisted draft final. — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/tree/ai-collaboration-writing/) *(AI-suggested, synthesized from this pack's existing facts — not extracted from a source document.)* - Use the AI for mechanics-level tasks where the global mean of internet prose is genuinely fine — reformatting, summarizing, drafting boilerplate — and reserve final judgment calls about tone and framing for the human writer. — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/tree/ai-collaboration-writing/) *(AI-suggested, synthesized from this pack's existing facts — not extracted from a source document.)* ## Antipatterns - Publishing an AI draft verbatim without a voice pass, letting the model's regression-to-the-mean prose stand in for the writer's actual judgment. — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/tree/ai-collaboration-writing/) *(AI-suggested, synthesized from this pack's existing facts — not extracted from a source document.)* - Treating the Tier 1 banned-word list as the whole fix — removing individual words while leaving the underlying hedging and triadic-rhythm structural patterns intact. — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/tree/ai-collaboration-writing/) *(AI-suggested, synthesized from this pack's existing facts — not extracted from a source document.)* - Using AI to make the final call on what a piece of writing should say, rather than only on how the mechanics of saying it are handled. — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/tree/ai-collaboration-writing/) *(AI-suggested, synthesized from this pack's existing facts — not extracted from a source document.)* - Assuming a single banned-word scan catches every AI-ism — bridge phrases and topic-sentence tax often survive a word-level edit because they're structural, not lexical. — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/tree/ai-collaboration-writing/) *(AI-suggested, synthesized from this pack's existing facts — not extracted from a source document.)* ## Known issues - This pack's own content is thin — a one-rule statement, a six-item voice-transfer list, and a single banned-word list, with no worked before/after examples to check nuance against. — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/tree/ai-collaboration-writing/) *(AI-suggested, synthesized from this pack's existing facts — not extracted from a source document.)* - A banned-word list drifts: as writers and readers adapt, yesterday's AI-tell words become normal usage or new tells emerge, so the Tier 1 list needs periodic revisiting rather than treating it as fixed. — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/tree/ai-collaboration-writing/) *(AI-suggested, synthesized from this pack's existing facts — not extracted from a source document.)* - Scanning for these patterns is necessary but not sufficient — a draft can pass every check on this list and still carry no distinctive human judgment if the writer didn't actually make any calls before publishing. — [source](https://llms-explorer.com/tree/ai-collaboration-writing/) *(AI-suggested, synthesized from this pack's existing facts — not extracted from a source document.)* ## Context files - [AI Collaboration Writing](https://llms-explorer.com/downloads/sources/mdb-context-hub/ai-collaboration-writing.md)