# Canned conclusion phrases Part of [The AI Tells Index](https://feedsquad.com/ai-tells). A tell signals low effort. It does not identify an author. Skilled writers produce every shape listed here, some of them daily, and automated detectors misread those writers for it at rates measured above 60 percent on non-native English prose. Nothing in this index proves that a machine wrote anything. Read an entry as one piece of evidence to weigh against the false-positive notes printed beside it. ## Facts - Id: canned-conclusion-phrase - Category: Lexical (lexical) - Subcategory: conclusion-marker - Also known as: in conclusion, in summary, to summarize, to sum up, all in all - Status: Contested. Credible people dispute that this signals anything at all. - Severity: low - Evidence grade: corroborated (named independently by multiple credible secondary sources) - Languages: en - Added: 2026-08-15 - Updated: 2026-08-17 - Page: https://feedsquad.com/ai-tells/canned-conclusion-phrase ## Description A phrase that announces an ending instead of being one. In conclusion, in summary and to sum up were taught as essay scaffolding long before any of this, and they remain correct in genres that require an explicit summary move. Contested for that reason. The pattern is sentence-initial and requires the punctuation that follows the phrase in its scaffolding use, so in summary judgment and a stray all in all mid-sentence both escape. ## Why it reads as machine-written The phrase does the work of ending without the work of concluding. What follows it is usually the opening restated, which is a separate tell with its own entry: this one is about the announcement, and the structural entry on signposted conclusions is about the restatement. ## Detection Type: deterministic (a regular expression, run as written) Scope: sentence ECMAScript regular expression. The build validator compiles it and tests it against this entry's own specimens. ```regex ^\s*(?:in\s+conclusion|in\s+summary|to\s+summari[sz]e|to\s+sum\s+up|all\s+in\s+all)\s*[,:] ``` Flags: i ## Examples Constructed specimens. Written for this index. Never quoted from anyone's posts. ### Specimen 1 Before, exhibiting the tell: > In conclusion, consistency matters more than volume when you are building an audience. Showing up on a schedule you can keep is worth more than a burst you cannot repeat, and most people learn that the expensive way. An audience notices the rhythm long before it notices any single post. That is the part worth holding on to. After, repaired: > We posted three times a week for a quarter, then nine times a week for the next one. The nine-a-week quarter got more impressions and fewer replies. We went back to three. Note: Figures in this repair are invented for the specimen. The repair ends by stopping, which is what an ending is. ## False positives Who legitimately writes this way. Taught essay scaffolding puts these phrases in place and rewards them, so student writing and the writing of anyone recently graded is full of them. Several genres require an explicit summary move: abstracts, executive summaries, appellate briefs and any document whose reader may only read the last paragraph. Spoken registers put the phrase in for a listener who cannot scroll back. The pattern requires sentence-initial position and the comma or colon that follows the scaffolding use, which is why in summary judgment the court found for the tenant does not fire, and why an ordinary all in all with no punctuation after it does not either. A reviewer should read what follows the phrase, because the announcement is harmless and the restatement is the real problem. ## Model attribution No family attribution, and the phrase is old enough that any attribution would be wrong. ## Platform notes - wikipedia: Editors record the closing formula among current signs while keeping their own caution that formal prose alone indicates nothing. ## Sources 1. Wikipedia: Signs of AI writing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Signs_of_AI_writing (tier: community; accessed 2026-08-14) 2. vale-ai-tells, 111 machine-checkable rules https://github.com/tbhb/vale-ai-tells (tier: community; accessed 2026-08-14) 3. chrisgherbert gist, ChatGPT cliches https://gist.github.com/chrisgherbert/c734ec50ae464135be57cd03b84281f9 (tier: community; accessed 2026-08-14; inverted evidence, cited for what it catalogues rather than what it advocates) 4. is-this-ai-slop word and phrase list https://github.com/didrod205/is-this-ai-slop (tier: community; accessed 2026-08-14) ## Status history Ids are permanent. A retired tell keeps its id and its page. - 2026-08-15, Contested: Contested. Named by four independent lists, and simultaneously the standard closing move taught in school essay instruction and required by the structure of an abstract, an executive summary or a legal brief. The signal is about the genre it appears in more than about the sentence. ## License CC BY 4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Attribution: The AI Tells Index, feedsquad.com/ai-tells Reuse the data, including commercially. Keep the attribution line. --- Dataset version 1.0.0. Schema version 1. Part of [FeedSquad](https://feedsquad.com). Built by [Herman Foundry](https://hermanfoundry.com) from Levi, Finnish Lapland.