Alex Hormozi revealed why your AI writing is slop (fix it)
Alex Hormozi just put a name to the thing every reader can feel but most creators can't articulate. He hates two specific patterns in AI copy: forced negation ("not this, but that") and staccato sentences that pretend to be punchy and just sound robotic. Both are everywhere. Both are killing your conversion rate.
Here's the fix — and the exact prompt you can paste into Claude's settings to eliminate them automatically.
What Hormozi defined
Forced negation is the "not just a tool, but a revolution" cadence. The "not only X but Y" pattern. Real writers use it occasionally for emphasis. AIs use it in every paragraph because it scores well on engagement training data. Once a reader spots it, every sentence after is suspect.
Staccato sentences are short three-word punches stacked together. They're meant to feel rhythmic. They feel robotic. Mix sentence lengths or readers tune out.
Why I prefer Claude over ChatGPT for writing
ChatGPT will agree to your style constraint, then drift back to its baseline tone within five paragraphs. Claude actually holds the constraint across long outputs. If you write a lot, the difference is huge — fewer corrections, more first-pass-usable copy.
The fix — hidden Claude settings prompt
Drop this directly into your Claude general settings:
"Never use em dashes in any response. Very important. Avoid AI-sounding writing patterns: no forced negation ('not this but that'), no staccato sentences, no repetitive parallel phrasing. Write naturally like a person would talk or type. If something can be said in one sentence, say it in one sentence."
Save it once. Every conversation from then on inherits the constraint.
Bonus — eliminate em dashes visually
The em dash is AI's signature punctuation. Banning it in the system prompt forces the model to break thoughts with periods or commas instead, and the prose immediately reads more human.
Why this matters for video ads
The patterns Hormozi calls out don't just affect blog posts. Every AI-generated video script has the same fingerprints. Hooks built on forced negation don't pull. Staccato VOs feel hollow. Strip the patterns and your conversion rate moves.
Apply this to your ads
The same human-sounding writing principles apply when the AI is writing your video script. The AI Media Machine clones winning ad structures and writes the underlying script — paired with this Claude prompt, you get ads that convert and don't trip the slop detector.
