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AINA · U1 / AIN-332 · for AIN-251 approval Voice · Vocabulary 2026-05-30

How AINA Should Sound

The voice guide and canonical vocabulary that every surface will pull from — so the copy stops sounding AI-written and stops inventing words like "your shape."

Ali Mehdi Mukadam · co-authored with Claude · 2026-05-30 · status: candidate / needs your approval
The point

The copy reads machine-written for three fixable reasons, not because em-dashes exist. And the product juggles four words for the result (score / band / posture / shape) when it needs three. This locks the voice and the vocabulary so the rest of the work has one thing to match: the About manifesto.

01 — Voice

Match About. Kill three tells.

The About page already sounds human — varied rhythm, specific claims ("two tribes, one algorithm"; "80% quietly drowning"; "it's okay to choose not to drive"), and it respects the reader. The rest of the site should sound like the same author. Three habits make the other surfaces read as AI:

1. The repeated "statement — fragment" rhythm

AI tell (5 on one screen)

"builds genuine skill — diagnostic, lesson, evaluator" · "not a checkbox form — your answers calibrate" · "Streaming chat — feels like Claude" · "never trapped — type your own"

Human

Vary the constructions. "Streaming chat that feels like Claude or ChatGPT." "You can close the tab and pick up later." One dash, used once, where it earns it.

2. The triple-beat cadence

AI tell

"AINA explains. You try. You get scored. You retry." · "Three minutes. Six honest questions. A real readiness score."

Human

At most one deliberate triplet per page, as a beat — not the default sentence shape. Rewrite the rest as ordinary varied prose.

3. The "honest" tic

"Honest" is filler in five places ("six honest questions", "Honest one.", "Honest read on usage."). Keep it in the one spot where honesty is the actual point; cut the rest.

The nuanceNot "delete every em-dash." About uses them and reads human, because its rhythm varies. The fix is breaking the pattern, not removing the punctuation.
02 — Vocabulary

Three words, not four

TermRoleKeep?
PostureWho you are as a learner (Beginner, Skeptic, Casual User, Power User, Founder/Operator) — the identity line.✅ primary
ScoreThe 0–100 number.✅ headline
BandThe score's tier (Cautious Start → Native).✅ secondary
ShapeUsed three ways, defined nowhere, no data behind it.❌ retire
"Here's what I see: you're a Skeptic." — not "your shape."

Every learner-facing "shape" becomes posture. The quiz line "Find your shape in seven questions" → "Find your starting point." The results hero stops rendering the literal placeholder.

03 — One CTA, three pillars

Decisions in this slice

Canonical CTA: the audit found 8 variants ("Start your AI Readiness Assessment", "Start Assessment", "Join the beta", "Find your baseline"…). Locked to one: Start the assessment (secondary: See how it works). The fuller phrase survives only as an aria-label.

Messaging pillars (kept from the homepage, restated in voice): Relevance — your work builds the curriculum · Genuine skill — you practise and get scored, you don't watch videos · Durability — principles outlast tools. Lead with relevance, prove it with the sandbox, close on durability.

Your call

Approve the voice + vocabulary (AIN-251) and the rest of the slices have one target to write toward. Flag anything that doesn't sound like you.