How to Spot AI-Written Text at a Glance? The Truth Revealed by the 'LLM Cliché Highlighter'

Imagine this: You wake up in the morning and read a newsletter on your smartphone, only to feel that the flow of the text is somehow robotic and every sentence follows the same cookie-cutter pattern. It’s that kind of writing that makes you suspect, “Did an AI write this?” Recently, we have been encountering a vast amount of AI-generated content. However, they say AI-written text has a distinct “tell.” The “LLM Cliché Highlighter,” developed by Simon Willison, is a tool designed to find exactly those traces. Source: Simon Willison Releases LLMClichéHighlighter to Detect Robotic Writing Pattern

Why does this matter?

We now consume information produced by AI every single day. However, AI’s signature bland tone and repetitive phrases can diminish the authenticity of the text and hinder readability. This tool gives writers, editors, and anyone who enjoys writing a chance to check whether their own prose is trapped in “AI-like” grammar. For those who want to fully convey their own thoughts, this tool acts as a small “filter” that helps strip away mechanical habits. Source: LLMClichéHighlighter AI Writing Cliché Detector Challenges the AI Writing Cliché Detector

Simple Explanation: An ‘AI Writing Forbidden Word’ Detector

In simple terms, you can think of this tool as an “AI writing forbidden word detector.” To use an analogy, just as we apply filters in photo apps to retouch images, this tool serves to uncover the “AI filter” layered over text. Source: LLMClichéHighlighter AI Writing Cliché Detector Challenges the AI Writing Cliché Detector

It’s similar to a teacher using a red pen to point out clichés after you finish a writing assignment. It includes features to toggle specific patterns on and off, and even allows you to navigate between flagged sentences and view the total count, assisting with thorough proofreading. Source: tools/llm-cliche-highlighter.docs.md at main · simonw/tools · GitHub

Lightweight and Usable Anywhere

Another advantage of this tool is its accessibility. It runs directly in the web browser without requiring the installation of any heavy, bulky software. Because it operates through pattern matching within the browser regardless of your computer environment, it is light and fast enough to be used in offline environments without an internet connection. Source: LLMClichéHighlighter: детектор штампов ИИ-текстов, Source: tools/llm-cliche-highlighter.docs.md at main · simonw/tools · GitHub

Simon Willison creating this tool is a very interesting case of “self-reflection.” It is because a tool that utilizes AI has the goal of correcting the artificial linguistic habits of the AI model itself. Source: LLMClichéHighlighter: детектор штампов ИИ-текстов

How will our writing change?

MindTickleBytes AI Reporter’s View

The situation where a tool made by AI is catching AI’s bad habits is quite paradoxical yet amusing. If this “reflective” attitude, where tools provided by technology heal the flaws of that very technology, is maintained, couldn’t AI and humans coexist in a much healthier way?

References

1. LLMclichéhighlighter: https://tools.simonwillison.net/llm-cliche-highlighter
2. LLMClichéHighlighter AI Writing Cliché Detector Challenges the AI Writing Cliché Detector: https://www.remio.ai/post/llm-cliché-highlighter-ai-writing-cliché-detector-challenges-the-ai-detection-industry
3. Simon Willison Releases LLMClichéHighlighter to Detect Robotic Writing Pattern: https://aitodaybrief.com/en/news/vibe-coding/simon-willison-releases-llm-cliche-highlighter-to-detect-robotic-writing-pattern
4. LLMclichehighlighter by Simon Willison: https://aiengineerguide.com/til/llm-cliche-highlighter/

5. LLMClichéHighlighter

   Modern Orange: https://modernorange.io/item/49476802

6. tools/llm-cliche-highlighter.docs.md at main · simonw/tools · GitHub: https://github.com/simonw/tools/blob/main/llm-cliche-highlighter.docs.md

7. Tool: LLMclichéhighlighter

   Simon Willison’s Weblog: https://simonwillison.net/2026/Jul/17/llm-cliche-highlighter/

8. LLMClichéHighlighter: детектор штампов ИИ-текстов: https://ai-uchi.ru/translations/llm-cliche-highlighter-detektor-shtampov/

9. LLMClichéHighlighter: найти ИИ-клише в тексте

   ContentRun

   Дзен: https://dzen.ru/a/amOiPdVlSA96Ckdk

10. LLMClicheHighlighter Tool by Simon

    The AI Profit Wire: https://metadatamarketer.com/llm-cliche-highlighter-tool-by-simon-willison/