Who or What Wrote This?

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The Internet is full of written content. With the ease of AI, I wondered how much is written by humans which is what I prefer. I asked Copilot.

(ASIDE: I use Copilot for general queries. I use ChatGPT for personal queries.) 

What percent of articles on the internet written by AI and not humans?

Copilot 

The short answer: a lot more than you might think, and it's growing fast.

Here’s what recent studies and estimates suggest:

🌐 General Online Content About 31.4% of all online content may be AI-generated, though this figure is likely outdated and underestimated.

📰 News Articles A study analyzing over 850,000 news articles found that 6.96% were AI-generated—roughly 60,000 AI-written news pieces published daily.

✍️ Blog Posts Estimates suggest up to 60% of blog content was AI-generated even before 2023. With the rise of large language models, that number is likely higher now.

Social Media Around 14.6% of Facebook posts were AI-generated as of 2020, but this is likely a lowball figure today.

🧠 Mixed Content A recent analysis found that: 2.5% of pages were purely AI-written

25.8% were purely human-written
A whopping 71.7% were a blend of both

It’s worth noting that AI-generated content spans everything from product descriptions and blog intros to full-length articles and even news reports. And while AI can churn out content at scale, human creativity and nuance still hold a strong edge—especially when it comes to trust and engagement.

How do I spot AI-written content?

Copilot

Spotting AI-written content can feel like trying to catch a ghost in the machine—but there are some telltale signs that give it away. Here's what to look for:

✍️ Writing Style & Tone Overly formal or polished tone: 

AI often sounds like it’s trying too hard to impress, with perfect grammar and a relentlessly upbeat vibe.

Repetitive phrasing: You might see the same sentence structures or phrases like “Have you ever wondered…” or “What if I told you…” repeated across different topics.

Lack of emotional nuance: AI struggles with subtlety. The writing may feel stiff or oddly generic. 

Content Clues Vague references: AI tends to say things like “many experts agree” or “a recent study found” without naming sources.

Missing personal perspective: Human writers often share anecdotes, opinions, or unique insights. AI usually doesn’t.

Inconsistencies: Especially in longer pieces, AI might contradict itself or shift tone abruptly.

🔍 Structural Patterns Uniform sentence length: 

AI-generated text often lacks the natural rhythm of varied sentence structures.

Generic openings: Watch for formulaic intros that feel interchangeable across topics.

Detection Tools (with a grain of salt) AI detectors like Copyleaks or GPTZero can help, but they’re not foolproof. They often flag bland human writing as AI and miss clever machine-generated text.

If you’re reading something and it feels like it was written to impress rather than inform—or if it’s oddly perfect but emotionally flat—you might be staring at a digital ghostwriter.