It’s Not Just Annoying, It’s Inescapable
The article examines a recurring rhetorical device in AI-generated writing: the 'not X, but Y' sentence structure. It argues that this tic has become increasingly prevalent in corporate and creative writing, serving as a marker for AI-assisted content.
Why it matters
As AI becomes ubiquitous in content creation, identifying linguistic patterns helps distinguish human-authored text from machine-generated output.
We are stuck with AI’s favorite writing tic.
Illustration by Alicia Tatone / Source: Getty. July 12, 2026, 7:30 AM ET Share Save If Julius Caesar had debuted this year, William Shakespeare might have been accused of writing it with AI. A certain suspicious rhetorical device appears again and again in the play. It’s in Act I, Scene ii: “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.” In Act III, Scene ii: “Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more.” And later in that same scene: “I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.”
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