AI Writing Patterns: Research & Data
We analyzed 186,000+ articles to map AI text patterns across 5+ models. Detection tools now identify AI writing with 97% accuracy using word choice and sentence rhythm alone. The data below covers everything content teams and SEO agencies need to know.
Why This Data Matters for SEO & GEO
AI is now a primary discovery channel. Algorithms are starting to filter AI-generated content, which gives authentic writing a real ranking advantage.
For GEO, knowing how AI models write helps brands differentiate their content, improve citation rates, and maintain the authenticity signals that both algorithms and readers are looking for.
Model Identification
97%
Accuracy identifying which AI wrote text
Detection Bias
61.3%
Non-native English wrongly flagged as AI
Word Surge
1000%
'underscore' increase (2022→2025)
Structural Tell
25-27
Avg AI sentence length (humans vary widely)
Executive Summary
Detection tools can identify machine-generated text with 97% accuracy by analyzing word choice and sentence structure. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, and DeepSeek each leave distinct fingerprints in the content they produce.
The numbers tell the story: 54% of LinkedIn long-form posts,20-30% of academic papers published in 2024, and 9.1% of US news articles now include machine-generated text—often without disclosure.
Specific words exploded in frequency after November 2022. "Delve" surged 654% in academic papers—46% of all historical uses appeared in just 15 months. "Underscore" jumped from 3% to 30% prevalence in papers (2022-2025).
Detection bias is a real problem: 61.3% of non-native English speakers get falsely flagged due to similar low-perplexity writing patterns. This creates systemic issues for global content creators and academic authors.
Universal AI Tells
Structural patterns that reveal AI writing (AI vs Human)
Low burstiness (uniform rhythm) vs human variation | Register leveling across all genres
Top AI Signature Words
Most reliable vocabulary tells (% surge since ChatGPT launch)
“delve” + “underscore” co-appeared in 98.8% of flagged papers
AI Content by Domain
Where AI-generated content is most prevalent (2024)
54% of LinkedIn long-form posts | 60-85k papers in 2023
Key Research Findings
LinkedIn AI Content
54%
Long-form posts AI-generated (2024)
Academic Papers
60-85k
Papers with LLM influence in 2023 (1-2% of total)
PubMed Delve
46%
Of all historical 'delve' uses appeared in 15 months
Co-occurrence
98.8%
'delve' + 'underscore' appear together in flagged papers
Want to get cited in AI search?
Geostar is a GEO and SEO agency. Our team handles content, technical implementation, and web development to get your brand cited in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews.
Brands that act now will own the next era of search.