Why does all my AI copy sound the same?
By Josh Rakic
AI tools default to the same safe, polished tone because they have no idea how YOUR brand sounds. You need a voice recipe — a tonal fingerprint the AI can follow.
The problem isn't the AI
The AI is doing exactly what you asked — writing "good" copy. But "good" without a voice is just... generic. It defaults to the safest, most corporate-adjacent tone because you haven't told it who you are.
What's actually missing
You need three things the AI doesn't have:
- A voice recipe — a one-sentence mashup that defines your tonal fingerprint ("Patagonia's conviction meets Wendy's sharpness, but for dogfood — and self-deprecating about it")
- Anti-patterns — what you explicitly DON'T sound like (corporate, salesy, startup bro)
- Brand vibe — the energy someone should feel when they read your copy
The fix takes 5 minutes
Build a voice recipe. It's a tonal north star you can paste into any AI prompt. Once the AI knows your voice references, anti-patterns, and energy level, the output goes from "could be anyone's" to "that's obviously them."
The difference between generic AI copy and copy that sounds like you isn't a better prompt. It's giving the AI a voice to imitate.