Why AI-written TikTok slides sound fake, and the rules we use to fix it
The specific patterns that make AI text recognisable on a slide (rhetorical hooks, lists of three, em dashes, filler words, even rhythm) and the writing rules that remove them.
· 4 min read · by Reelazy
Viewers cannot always say why a slide feels machine-written, but they feel it fast and they swipe. Editors who deal with a lot of AI text have catalogued the tells; Wikipedia's editors maintain a long list of them. Most apply directly to slide copy, and each one has a fix that is mechanical enough to turn into a rule.
These are the rules Reelazy writes against. They are useful whether or not you use any tool.
The tells
The rhetorical-question hook. "Struggling with tunnelling candles?" "Ever wondered why your coffee tastes bitter?" It is the single most common AI opening, and it wastes the hook on a question the viewer did not ask. Fix: open with the fact, the number or the scene. "That ring of wasted wax has one cause."
Lists of three. "Learn, edit, and share." "Faster, cheaper, better." Three is the rhythm language models fall into by default. Real people say two things or four. Fix: cut to two or add a fourth that is genuinely different.
Em dashes. The long dash used to bolt two thoughts together. It reads as polished prose, which is exactly wrong for a slide. Fix: full stop. Two sentences.
Colon headlines. "Candle care: the complete guide." Fix: say the thing. "How to stop a candle tunnelling."
Negative parallelism. "It's not about the scent, it's about the moment." "Not just a candle." Fix: state the positive claim alone.
Filler intensifiers. Crucial, seamless, effortless, elevate, unlock, transform, journey, vibrant, empower, game changer. None of them survive the question "compared to what?". Fix: replace with the concrete noun or number, or delete.
Even rhythm. Every sentence twelve words long, every slide three lines. Human writing is lumpy. Fix: a three-word line next to a fourteen-word one.
Title Case On Every Slide. Fix: sentence case, like a person typing.
Emojis as punctuation. Fix: none on slides. The photo is the visual.
Generic specificity. "Made with premium ingredients." "Trusted by thousands." Numbers with no source, adjectives with no referent. Fix: one detail only this seller could know. "Poured 60 jars on Sunday, kitchen still smells like fig."
The rules, as we give them to the model
- Write like one person talking to one person. Fragments allowed. Starting with "and" or "but" allowed.
- No rhetorical-question hooks. Open with a fact, a number, a mistake or a scene.
- No lists of three.
- No em dashes, no colon headlines, no Title Case, no emojis, no exclamation marks.
- Banned: crucial, delve, elevate, seamless, effortless, unlock, boost, transform, journey, tapestry, vibrant, empower, harness, leverage, revolutionize, cutting-edge, hassle-free, ultimate, essential, streamline, supercharge.
- Use the buyer's own words for the product and the problem, not marketing synonyms.
- Vary sentence length hard.
- Every post includes at least one detail only this seller would know. If there is none, ask; never invent.
- If the seller has provided samples of their own writing, match their rhythm and formality over every rule above.
Rule 9 is the one that matters most. Three captions the seller actually wrote do more for voice than any list of banned words, because the model stops guessing what a person sounds like and starts copying one.
Before and after
AI default:
Struggling with candles that tunnel? 🕯️ Discover the secret to a perfect, even burn — every single time. Elevate your cozy moments with our premium soy candles!
With the rules:
That ring of wasted wax has one cause. The first burn ended too soon. Let it reach the edges, three hours, then trim the wick. Our jars are poured for a full pool. Save this for the next one you light.
Same information. The second one could have been typed by the person who pours the candles, which is the whole point.
Why this matters more on slides than anywhere else
A blog reader gives you a paragraph to prove you are worth reading. A slide viewer gives you two seconds and a thumb. The tells above are exactly the things that read as "advertisement" at a glance, and advertisements get swiped. Removing them is not about hiding that a tool helped; it is about not wasting the two seconds.
Frequently asked
Is it wrong to use AI for slide text? No. It is wrong to post text you would not say out loud to a customer. Use the tool for the first draft and the structure, then read every slide aloud.
What about other languages? The patterns are the same in Vietnamese, Spanish or German: rhetorical questions, triads, inflated adjectives. The banned-word list changes; the rules do not.
Can I add my own rules? In Reelazy, yes: each project has an instructions box for standing rules and a place to paste your own captions as voice samples.
Want slides like the ones in this article? Make them in Reelazy — describe your product, approve the outline, post to TikTok.