How to check AI-assisted writing: the six-point review before it goes out

AI-assisted text has a particular problem: it reads well. Mistakes arrive in good grammar and a calm tone, so they slip past a casual read.

Run this checklist on anything where the tool did more than catch typos.

1. Facts

• Check every name, job title, organisation, date, place and number against a source you trust.
• Check every claim about law, regulation or standards against the official text.
• Be suspicious of anything with a statistic or a "studies show". If you can't find the source, remove it.
• Watch for invented references: titles, authors, links that look right and don't exist.

2. Quotes

• Every quotation must be what the person said or wrote. Compare against your notes or their email.
• If the tool "tidied" a quote, restore the original or get the person's approval.
• Never attribute AI-written words to a real person.

3. Names and detail

• Spell every name as the person spells it.
• Check acronyms and product names.
• Make sure local and industry references are right. Tools often "correct" specialist terms into something else.

4. Tone and voice

• Read it aloud. Does it sound like your magazine?
• Look for stock phrases and padding: "in today's fast-paced world", "it's important to note", "a testament to".
• Look for sentences that all have the same length and shape.
• Look for a paragraph that says nothing. Cut it.

5. Originality

• Does the piece say anything specific to your members and your field?
• Has it picked up phrasing from somewhere else? Search a distinctive sentence if something feels familiar.

6. Privacy and permission

• Confirm no personal or confidential member information went into the tool.
• Confirm you have permission to use any quote, image or case study.

7. A second reader

Ask someone who didn't work on it to read it from start to finish. Give them one job: tell you where it sounds wrong, vague or unlike you.

8. Final sign-off

One person, named, takes responsibility for the piece going out. That person has read the final version, not an earlier one.

A one-page version

Article: ____________   Checked by: ________   Date: ______

[ ] Names, titles, dates, figures checked against sources
[ ] Quotes match originals
[ ] No invented sources or statistics
[ ] Read aloud: sounds like us
[ ] No private information shared with tools
[ ] Second reader done
[ ] Final version approved by: ________

Print it or paste it into your workflow. Using AI for proofreading covers the lighter case.