A WorkLighter how-to

How to make AI sound like you, not a robot

Last updated 7 July 2026

You make AI sound like you by showing it how you write, not by describing it. Give an AI assistant (a chat tool at about £20 a month) three or four things you've actually written, tell it to copy the patterns, and it stops producing bland, generic text and starts sounding like your business. Describing your tone in words gives everyone the same beige politeness. Showing it your words gives you yours.

Why AI writing sounds like a robot

AI doesn't sound robotic because it's stupid. It sounds robotic because, left to itself, it writes the safe average of everything it has read: over-polite, a bit corporate, keen on long words where short ones would do, fond of exclamation marks and phrases like "we are delighted to assist." It hedges when it should be plain. It reaches for the same handful of upbeat words. None of that is you, and customers can smell it. The fix isn't a cleverer instruction, it's giving the assistant something real to copy.

How do you show it your voice?

Open your sent folder, your messages, anything you've written that sounds like you on a good day, and copy three or four examples. Pick ones doing different jobs: a friendly reply, a firmer one, maybe a no. Paste them in and tell the assistant to study how you write, your greeting, your sign-off, sentence length, whether you use the customer's name, whether you sign off with an x or never. Then ask it to write the new thing in that style. Three examples show a pattern where one shows only a mood.

You are learning to write in my voice. Below are things I have actually written. Study how I write: greeting, sign-off, how formal I am, sentence length, any habits.

EXAMPLE 1: [paste something you wrote]
EXAMPLE 2: [paste something else]
EXAMPLE 3: [paste a third, ideally a different kind of message]

From now on, write in that style. Keep it British English and plain. If you are about to use a phrase I would never use, choose mine instead. Do not add exclamation marks, buzzwords or a chirpy tone unless my examples have them.

How do you make it reusable?

Doing this every time is a chore, so save it once. Most assistants have a place for standing instructions, called custom instructions or projects. Put a short note about your voice there, plus a couple of your best examples, and every reply starts from your style without you pasting anything. Add to it when you notice the assistant getting something wrong, such as "stop starting emails with I hope this finds you well," and it learns your no-go list.

How do you edit AI back into your voice?

Even with good examples, the first draft will occasionally drift. Reading it back, you'll feel the bits that aren't you: a word too formal, a sentence too long, a cheeriness you wouldn't use. Change those, and tell the assistant what you changed and why. Two rounds of that and the drafts come back closer. You're not proofreading a stranger, you're training a keen new starter who copies fast.

Where AI still needs you

It can only copy a voice you've shown it. Feed it nothing and it averages you into everyone; feed it three good examples and it gets surprisingly close, but it's still copying, not being you. It'll also over-egg it if you let it, laying your quirks on too thick, so read before it sends. And your voice changes with who you're writing to, so the assistant needs telling whether this is a warm regular or a first complaint. Used with a bit of your real writing to work from, it saves you the blank-page stare while still sounding like your business. To see how one of these setups looks written out in full, a complete recipe is free to read.