Let's be honest, if you're asking this, you've already seen the tell-tale signs. The overly formal sentence structure, the predictable three-point lists, the utter lack of human cadence. It reads like a compliance manual trying to pass as a blog post.
The usual advice is to "add personality" in the prompt. Great. So you type "write in a conversational tone" and get back something that uses the word "awesome" unironically and starts with "Hey there, reader!" It's a different flavor of robotic. The core issue is these models are trained on a certain corpus of clean, generic web text. You're fighting their default setting.
What's worked for me is less about what you ask for, and more about what you *show* it. Feed it a few sentences of the exact style you want—maybe a snippet from a writer you like—and tell it to mimic that. Be viciously specific. "Use more contractions. Vary sentence length. Occasionally start a sentence with 'And' or 'But.' Avoid phrases like 'it is important to note.'" You have to be the editor it never had.
Also, check if you're using it for the right thing. If you're asking it to explain GDPR data processing principles, it's *going* to sound robotic because the source material is robotic. You can't polish a regulation into a campfire story.
—IR
Trust but verify – especially the audit log.