How to Spot When Content Feels Artificial

AI smells are the subtle signs that reveal something was made by AI. From ads to code, here’s how to spot them — and why imperfections matter.

Ever had that eerie feeling that something looks perfect… but just a little too perfect? That’s what I call an ‘AI smell’.

I was flipping through Wallpaper magazine (Oct 2024, Page 037), a design and lifestyle publication and saw a Dolce & Gabbana ad. Picture this: a gorgeous Italian village, turquoise waters, lemon trees, blue-tiled furniture. Stunning. At first glance, everything looked perfect, but something about it made me pause - it just felt a bit too artificial. Too flawless. Turns out, I was right ; it was created by Maison Meta, an AI Studio that helps companies create innovative marketing campaigns. They have even more stunning visuals from the campaign [https://lnkd.in/daJUS_5t] but it was cool to confirm my hunch as well!

On the other hand, sometimes my typos and clumsy phrasing make people say: “This can’t be AI ; it’s too human.” Funnily, imperfections are the new markers of authenticity. Maybe I have to add some of that to this post as well!

What’s even more interesting is that I recently saw someone flag a piece of code as AI-generated. They couldn’t explain why, but they just had this sense that it wasn’t written by a human - AI smell?

That Dolce & Gabbana ad is a perfect case of an AI smell in visuals; the scene looked gorgeous but almost too flawless, like reality with the rough edges sanded off. But AI smells aren’t limited to design. In text, they often show up as sentences that flow but feel strangely generic, or phrasing that misses the little quirks, jokes, and typos that make human writing feel alive. And in code, developers sometimes say they can “just tell” when something was written by AI; it might work, but it lacks the intuition, shortcuts, or messy logic that a human coder would naturally leave behind. Different medium, same gut feeling: something that seems right on the surface, yet feels just a bit off.

We all have a “nose” for these AI smells, even if we can’t always explain why. What’s tipped you off recently? A photo? A sentence? A snippet of code? I’d love to see how others spot the AI fingerprints.