A Font Choice Got an Author Accused of Using AI

INTERNATIONAL BUREAU —Independent author T.M. Kirk says people accused her of using artificial intelligence in an online post because of the font she chose. Kirk said on Instagram that the post carried no AI flag, yet commenters blamed her for making it look AI-generated. Tools such as ChatGPT and Claude have made it quicker and cheaper to create graphics and other content.

Their spread has prompted calls to boycott businesses that use what critics call “AI slop” in advertising. As people look for clues, familiar design choices can draw the same suspicion as obvious errors, such as garbled text or hands with extra fingers. What Makes a Font Look AI-Generated?

When an image generator renders lettering as part of a picture, it produces the letters as pixels. The results can resemble common styles from ads, posters and banners in its training data. Small inconsistencies in spacing or letter shapes can give the text an uneven look, even when it resembles a familiar typeface.

Some AI-generated lettering resembles Inter. Slanted brush lettering seen in dramatic ads and flyers has also drawn comparisons to Road Rage. Designer Ramin Nasibov highlighted the brush style in a November 2 post that rendered the words “Comic Sans” in similar lettering. Human designers can choose the same style, so the lettering alone tells readers little about how an image was made.

Creators Are Changing How They Work The scrutiny has extended from em dashes and words such as “delve” to typography. Some writers say they use more casual language, deliberately leave in typos or avoid certain words and punctuation. Artists have shared early sketches, saved layers and recorded time-lapse videos to document their work.

AI can also generate footage that imitates a time-lapse. Some designers say they avoid typefaces that readers associate with AI. As image generators get better at rendering clean, consistent lettering, those visual clues are likely to become less useful. The stigma around particular fonts may last longer, leaving small creators and self-published authors fielding questions about ordinary design decisions.

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