AI味

What does AI味 mean?

Someone posts a heartfelt product review in a work WeChat group and the first reply is three characters: 一股AI味, “a strong whiff of AI”. The tell: hollow superlatives, sentences that run suspiciously parallel, an “in conclusion” nobody asked for, hands with seven fingers. AI味 is what you call content made or massaged by a machine, and as AI tools flooded Chinese social media in 2024–2025 it hardened into the standard put-down for anything mass-produced and insincere. Brands get it, influencers get it, the classmate who pasted an essay into a chatbot gets it. So does your own draft when it comes back too polished. The opposite compliment is 有活人味, “tastes human”; 人机 works the same ground.

Where does AI味 come from?

WeChat, Xiaohongshu and the endless work group chats were where the term caught on, as ChatGPT-style prose flooded all three. The accelerant came in January 2025, when DeepSeek's R1 turned AI into a household tool across China: practically everyone became a user overnight, and everyone grew a nose for the output. Schools and publishers now discuss openly how to strip the AI味 out of submissions they have already accepted.

How to use AI味

• 这篇文章一股AI味，读起来毫无感情。
  Zhè piān wénzhāng yī gǔ AI wèi, dú qǐlái háo wú gǎnqíng.
  This article reeks of AI flavor — zero feeling in it.
• 他觉得自己写的文案AI味太重，没敢发。
  Tā juéde zìjǐ xiě de wén'àn AI wèi tài zhòng, méi gǎn fā.
  He thought his copy smelled too much like AI and didn't dare post it.