10 prompts to make ChatGPT write like a human

By Elias, developer of XXL Prompt Manager · Updated

AI text sounds like AI for a handful of reasons: it opens with filler ("In today's fast-paced world"), hedges everything, repeats itself in a summary, turns every thought into bullet points, and keeps every sentence the same length. The prompts below tell the model to avoid exactly those habits, and to borrow your voice instead. They work in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and any other chat AI.

Each prompt uses [placeholders] for the parts you fill in. Copy one below, or download all ten at the end and import them into your prompt library.

A fair warning: these prompts make text clearer and more like you. They are not a way to pass off AI writing as your own where that isn't allowed.

Rewrite and edit

Rewrite so it sounds human
Rewrite the text below so it sounds like a thoughtful person wrote it.

Rules:
- Keep every fact and the meaning. Don't add new claims.
- Vary sentence length: mix short sentences with longer ones.
- Cut filler openers, hedges and closing summaries that repeat what was already said.
- Prefer concrete words over abstract ones. Add an example only if one is obvious from the text.
- No bullet points unless the original uses them.
- Audience: [audience]. Tone: [tone].

Text:
[text]
Remove AI clichés
Go through the text below and list every phrase that sounds generic or machine-written, for example, "delve into", "navigate the landscape", "unlock the potential", "game-changer", "it's important to note" or "in conclusion". For each one, suggest a plainer alternative.

Then give me the full revised text with all of them replaced.

Text:
[text]
Read-aloud edit
Read the text below as if you were saying it out loud. Mark every sentence that is hard to say in one breath, sounds stiff, or that nobody would say in a conversation. Rewrite only those sentences and leave the rest unchanged.

Show the changes as "before → after", then the full text.

Text:
[text]
Shorten without losing my voice
Cut the text below by about [percent] percent without changing its voice. Remove repetition and throat-clearing first, then merge sentences that say the same thing. Don't replace my words with more formal ones.

Text:
[text]

Write in your own voice

Learn my writing voice
Here are samples of my writing:
[writing samples]

Describe my voice in 5 short rules: sentence length, word choice, punctuation, humor, and how I open and close a piece. Then rewrite the text below following those rules.

Text:
[text]
Notes to a draft that sounds like me
Turn my rough notes into a [format] for [audience]. Write it the way I would explain it out loud to a colleague: direct, specific, and without an introduction about why the topic matters. Keep it under [word limit] words.

Notes:
[notes]
Make it specific
The text below is vague. For every general claim in it, ask me one question that would let you replace the claim with a specific detail: a number, a name or a real example. List only the questions, numbered. After I answer, rewrite the text with the details.

Text:
[text]

Everyday writing

Email reply that sounds like me
Write a reply to the email below. Keep it short, friendly and specific. Start with the answer, not with a pleasantry. No "I hope this email finds you well". Sign off as [name].

The main thing I want to say:
[main point]

The email I received:
[email]
LinkedIn post without the hype
Write a LinkedIn post about [topic] for [audience]. No emojis, at most two hashtags, no "excited to announce", and no one-sentence-per-line formatting. Open with a specific detail or number and end with one question readers can answer from their own experience. Maximum 150 words.
Explain it like a person, not a textbook
Explain [topic] to [audience] as if we were talking over coffee. Use one concrete example from [context]. Avoid jargon; if a technical term is necessary, explain it in one sentence. Maximum [word limit] words.

Get all prompts from this page in one go

Download the CSV, then open the XXL Prompt Manager sidebar → Settings (gear icon) → Import prompts from CSV. Every prompt lands in the folder "Write like a human", with its [variables] ready to fill in.

Download CSV (10 prompts)

Why these prompts work

Language models drift toward the most common way to phrase something, which is why their text feels familiar and flat. Three things pull them away from that:

  1. Explicit bans. Naming the habits you don't want (filler openers, summaries, bullet lists) works better than asking for "natural" text.
  2. A voice to copy. A few paragraphs of your own writing give the model something more specific to imitate than "casual" or "professional".
  3. Specific input. Most bland AI text comes from vague input. The "Make it specific" prompt fixes the input instead of polishing the output.

Keep the prompts you use

If you use prompts like these every week, keep them one click away instead of in a notes file. XXL Prompt Manager is a free Chrome extension that adds a prompt library sidebar to ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and 8 other AI chat sites: fill in the [placeholders] and copy the finished prompt with one click.

The five voice rules from "Learn my writing voice" also make a good profile: save them once, and the extension adds them to every prompt you copy, so every AI chat writes in your voice without you pasting the rules again.