The latest stylistic quirk from ChatGPT is sinister, infuriating, and absolutely pervasive across the internet. Once you start noticing the rhetorical device "it's not X, it's Y" as you scroll online, it becomes impossible to ignore, seeping into your subconscious thoughts like a modern-day obsession.
The Number 23 Phenomenon in Digital Language
If you've never seen Jim Carrey's 2007 psychological thriller The Number 23, consider yourself fortunate. The film depicts a man who becomes fixated on the number 23, seeing it everywhere until he descends into madness. What once seemed like a far-fetched plot now feels eerily relatable, as my own personal version of this phenomenon revolves around the AI-generated phrase "it's not X, it's Y." Everywhere I look, from Facebook's algorithmically suggested posts to fitness classes and television shows, this construction relentlessly appears.
AI's Insidious Tell in Everyday Content
This rhetorical device has become a hallmark of ChatGPT, serving as one of its most insidious tells. No matter how innocuous the prompt, AI consistently finds a way to inject variations like "Ham doesn't just taste good – it makes everything else taste better" or "Bees aren't stupid – they're hyper-specialised." It has evolved into a shorthand for lazy AI-generated content, causing me to tense up whenever I encounter it, automatically suspecting I'm interacting with a datacentre rather than a human.
Although "it's not X, it's Y" predates ChatGPT, its association with AI has become inescapable. Rewatching classic moments, such as Don Draper's pitch in Mad Men where he declares a watch "isn't a timepiece, it's a conversation piece," now feels tainted by the assumption that a chatbot could have produced it. This blurring of lines between human creativity and machine output is a troubling sign of our times.
Other Linguistic Gimmicks from AI
ChatGPT employs several other linguistic tricks that raise red flags. Vague, soft intensifiers like "quietly powerful" or "deeply transformative" often signal AI involvement, as does an overuse of em-dashes. However, none haunt me quite as profoundly as "it's not X, it's Y." This construction has infiltrated my daily life to the point where I catch myself using it unconsciously, turning mundane moments into exaggerated declarations.
My hypervigilance has led to a constant struggle to avoid this phrase in my own writing, driven by a desperate need to prove my humanity. The fear of being mistaken for AI compels me to go to extreme lengths, from free-associating columns to offering biological samples. It's a battle against an ever-evolving digital landscape where authenticity is increasingly hard to verify.
The Future of AI Stylistic Quirks
Hopefully, this won't last forever. AI technology evolves rapidly, and "it's not X, it's Y" may soon become obsolete, replaced by new, even more sinister quirks that are harder to detect. If not, I grant full permission for my own confinement, with the ironic twist that my jailers might use the very phrase to justify it: "This isn't incarceration, it's a quiet reset." As we navigate this new era, the challenge remains to distinguish human expression from algorithmic slop in our daily digital interactions.
