Why AI Keeps Using 'Delve,' 'Leverage,' and 'Robust'
Certain words exploded in usage after LLMs arrived. The word 'delves' surged 25x in scientific papers. Here is why AI loves these words and how to spot them instantly.
Sarah Jenkins
Content Strategist
"Delve." "Leverage." "Robust." If you see three of these in one paragraph, you are reading AI. These words have become the fingerprint of machine-generated text across every industry.
Table of Contents
- The WIRED Study That Caught AI Red-Handed
- The Top AI Buzzwords
- Why AI Loves These Words
- The Style Word Epidemic
- How to Spot AI Writing in Three Seconds
- How We Evaluated This
- How to Fix It
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
The WIRED Study That Caught AI Red-Handed
AI buzzwords are specific vocabulary patterns that appear at dramatically higher rates in machine-generated text than in human writing, with some words like "delves" surging 25 times above pre-LLM baseline usage according to peer-reviewed linguistic analysis.
A 2024 study from the University of Tubingen and Northwestern University analyzed 14 million scientific paper abstracts published on PubMed between 2010 and 2024. They tracked every word's frequency year by year, then compared pre-LLM usage to post-LLM usage.
The results were staggering. The word "delves" appeared in 25 times as many 2024 papers as the pre-LLM trend would predict. "Showcasing" and "underscores" jumped nine times. "Potential" increased by 4.1 percentage points.
Before 2023, massive year-over-year word spikes only happened during global health events. "Ebola" in 2015. "Coronavirus" and "pandemic" from 2020 to 2022. After 2023, hundreds of words exploded in frequency with no connection to world events. They were all style words, not content words.
The researchers estimated that at least 10 percent of 2024 scientific abstracts were processed with LLMs. If AI buzzwords infected scientific papers, the most controlled and careful writing environment imaginable, they are everywhere else too.
The Top AI Buzzwords
| Word | Why AI Loves It | Human Alternative |
|---|---|---|
| Delve | Signals depth without being deep | Look at, examine, explore |
| Leverage | Corporate shorthand for "use" | Use, apply, build on |
| Robust | Vague adjective that sounds technical | Strong, reliable, thorough |
| Spearhead | Military metaphor for "lead" | Lead, start, drive |
| Harness | Implies taming something powerful | Use, channel, direct |
| Foster | Soft verb for "encourage" | Encourage, support, build |
| Navigate | Metaphor for "deal with" | Handle, work through, manage |
| Underscore | Academic version of "emphasize" | Highlight, stress, show |
| Pivotal | Dramatic word for "important" | Important, key, critical |
The originality.ai blog analyzed ChatGPT output and found the same pattern. These words cluster together in AI-generated text at rates far higher than in human writing, even professional human writing. Wikipedia actually created a page called Signs of AI Writing that lists these exact words as detection markers.
Why AI Loves These Words
Large language models predict the next token based on probability. They do not choose words for clarity. They choose words for likelihood, which means the most common word in training data wins every time.
These buzzwords are common in the training data because millions of business documents, marketing copy, and academic papers use them. The model learned that these words signal "professional writing." The problem is that professional writing and good writing are not the same thing.
Think of it like a restaurant that only serves dishes that appear on the most menus. You will get pasta, chicken, and rice. You will not get the weird, specific dish that makes you remember the meal five years later.
A PLOS ONE study found that AI-generated content uses corporate vocabulary 3.2 times more frequently than human-authored text. That is not a slight preference. That is a fundamental bias built into the model's architecture.
The Style Word Epidemic
The Tubingen-Northwestern study found something specific about what types of words spiked: the post-LLM word surges were overwhelmingly style words, not content words, revealing that AI floods writing with decoration rather than substance.
Nouns describe things. "Coronavirus," "lockdown," "pandemic" are nouns that describe real events. Verbs and adjectives describe how you talk about things. "Delve," "showcase," "underscore" are decorative. AI floods writing with decoration because decoration is what it learned to optimize for.
Compare these two sentences:
> "This study delves into the pivotal role that AI plays in fostering innovation across robust organizational frameworks."
> "This study looks at how AI helps companies innovate."
Both say the same thing. The first one has 16 words and three AI buzzwords. The second has 9 words and zero. When I ran both through three different AI detectors, the first one flagged as AI-generated every time. The second passed as human every time.
How to Spot AI Writing in Three Seconds
You do not need an AI detector to identify machine-generated text. You need a word list and the ability to scan for three specific patterns that appear consistently in AI output.
How We Evaluated This
Our analysis draws on six primary sources across academic research, linguistic analysis, and industry reports. The University of Tubingen and Northwestern University preprint provided the foundational data set of 14 million PubMed abstracts spanning 2010 to 2024.
We cross-referenced their word frequency findings with Grammarly's 2026 industry analysis and originality.ai's ChatGPT output studies. The PLOS ONE comparative study provided the 3.2x corporate vocabulary differential. Personal testing involved running AI-generated paragraphs through multiple detectors to confirm the buzzword flagging patterns described above.
How to Fix It
The fix requires discipline but it is straightforward. Build a personal ban list with the top 10 AI buzzwords and commit to never using them in your final drafts.
