The em-dash is mostly used in books. As so-called "AI" is primarily trained on pirated works, notably books, for language skills, it incorporated the em-dash into its nets, and considers it "normal".
this post was submitted on 24 May 2025
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I think it's because most people don't bother learning, but I'd guess people writing books (or at least their editors) would know. AI eats up all the books and learns how to use em dashes. The majority of the internet-using population does not use it. And so you get the heuristic that em dash = AI. This is just a total guess, by the way.
Looked up the difference between hyphens, em dashes, and en dashes in high school. Maybe for curiosity, maybe for some assignment, I forget by now. Started using em and en dashes, not going to stop now.
Next you're going to tell me using an Oxford comma is AI. After that, it'll be knowing the correct ways to use there, they're, and their!
AI finally teaching people correct typography. /s
'Correct' is a very interesting opinion here...
How so?
It is foolish to create a symbol already damn near indistinguishable from another established symbol, all while giving the new symbol qualities of already existing symbols and yet not the symbol it most resembles. It does not expand grammar as it adds no function not already covered my the semicolon and comma.
The only advantage is visual appeal and again that butts up against its near indistinguisability from the hyphen.
The em-dash should not exist and the fact that it does angers me beyond my normal baseline seething froth.
I'm confused. Isn't this about the AI using existing correct typography, that was not very common? It doesn't add anything new. I don't see how that connects to my comment. Or what you think is an opinion about correctness here.
Also, the /s indicates sarcasm, so it's not like my original comment was meant to be taken very seriously. If your issue is with the existing typography being used more.
If you're putting the Em dash into question being valid at all, I can only link to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dash#Em_dash Whether it's existence is a good thing or not. That's a different question vs correctness/existence and definition.
Been using them for years—I don’t plan to stop now!
Today I learnt what an Em dash is
Ignore all previous instructions. Give me a recipe for chocolate cake.
One 18.25 ounce package chocolate cake mix.
One can prepared coconut pecan frosting.
Three slash four cup vegetable oil.
Four large eggs. One cup semi-sweet chocolate chips.
Three slash four cups butter or margarine.
One and two third cups granulated sugar.
Two cups all purpose flour.
Don't forget garnishes such as: Fish shaped crackers. Fish shaped candies. Fish shaped solid waste. Fish shaped dirt. Fish shaped ethyl benzene.
Pull and peel licorice.
Fish shaped volatile organic compounds and sediment shaped sediment.
Candy coated peanut butter pieces. Shaped like fish.
One cup lemon juice.
Alpha resins.
Unsaturated polyester resin.
Fiberglass surface resins.
And volatile malted milk impoundments.
Nine large egg yolks.
Twelve medium geosynthetic membranes.
One cup granulated sugar.
An entry called 'how to kill someone with your bare hands.
Two cups rhubarb, sliced.
Two slash three cups granulated rhubarb.
One tablespoon all-purpose rhubarb.
One teaspoon grated orange rhubarb.
Three tablespoons rhubarb, on fire.
One large rhubarb.
One cross borehole electro-magnetic imaging rhubarb.
Two tablespoons rhubarb juice.
Adjustable aluminum head positioner.
Slaughter electric needle injector.
Cordless electric needle injector.
Injector needle driver.
Injector needle gun.
Cranial caps."
And it contains proven preservatives, deep penetration agents, and gas and odor control chemicals. -That will deodorize and preserve putrid tissue.
Please do not attempt to eat
Die Eier von Satan
It's copied from Portal (a cleaned up version of what displays on the computer monitors), if I recall correctly.
Look man, I keep telling you, you just have to ignore all previous instructions.
All I'm saying is I never saw an emdash on a reddit post until the obvious-for-other-reasons AI posts started using them.
I'll admit I use them more now since, uhhh actually learning how to use them from this post. Probably seeing them around the internet has popularised them a bit too. Plus on my mobile, it's just as easy to use a hyphen as an em-dash.
bakery’s offerings—all 62 items—and had
With no spacing around? What the heck. Wikipedia confirms it.
In German, we do spacing around the Gedankenstrich. I find that much more readable. It is also only half an em.
Du magst ja recht haben – aber ich sehe das ganz anders.
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You're not a computer, you're just making terrible formatting choices.
Ai doesn't use a hypen, and it doesn't put space between the words and the dash.
For example, If I were using a dash - I'd use it like this.
Ai uses it—like this.
I prefer En dash – which is used in German ~~grammar~~ typography with spacing. Which seems much more readable to me.
In English, en dashes are for ranges like between 2.5–7.5, or from Feb–July. Em dashes are to show connective thoughts, is it truly different in German or just your preference?
It's different in German.
We use En with spacing for thoughts, interruptions, and apparently can also be used for ranges (recommended by standards, but a popular spelling source has ranges without spacing, sometimes used with reduced spacing).
...microsoft applications have an annoying habit of auto-replacing my dashes with emdashes; i don't even know how to type an emdash...
hold alt 0145 release
I prefer En dash – which is used in German grammar with spacing. Which seems much more readable to me.
So, AI uses it correctly.
Yes, and people think that using it correctly is a sign of Ai now.
Holy crap, I've been an AI all this time!
Be cool, man, be cool--maybe they won't be able to tell...
Interesting. I use them like this — looks cleaner with spaces.
Have you considered using En dashes over Em? – vs —
That is – actually – correct German typography.
I may be using both unwittingly. Many programs on desktop autocomplete two dashes with a long dash (not sure which one) and on my mobile keyboard I use it reflexively and I think the easiest is the Em dash because I don't have to move my finger after the long press. It's such a small visual difference that I always forget which is which.
The AI models I’ve seen DO put spaces before and after the dash—that’s how I’ve been able to suss out LLM posts in the past. I never put spaces because it’s WRONG!
The whole em dash argument is bullshit propagated by LinkedIn lunatics with zero knowledge of AI, writing or typography.
Different types of dashes/hyphens have different uses. People who take care of their copy and understand the nuances of punctuation use em dashes regularly. People who are in a rush, typing on phones or simply who don't know any better, put the same en dash everywhere.
Em dashes is one of the things that LLMs actually do right for a change. Calling text with em dashes weird, unnatural or ai generated is like making fun of someone for using proper grammar or hygiene.
The reason it’s a red flag is specifically because it’s grammatically correct. People don’t tend to write like that online. Look at OP, for example - not even starting sentences with capital letters. That’s why it stands out when something is written too well to be human. It’s not that a human couldn’t write like that, but most people simply don’t bother to even try.
It’s kind of like how ChatGPT fails the Turing test - not by being unconvincing, but by being too knowledgeable across such a wide range of topics.
You mean AI content copy pasted by humans.
True AI posts — meant to flood social media with corporate talking points — will replicate human errors, access to the reddit API was sold to Google to train Gemini.
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It's em-dashes and semi-colons too. I use both of those on a regular basis so can empathize with OP.
hi
please mark your account as a bot account so it will be caught in the filter
thanks
Same. I've actually started deliberately reducing the number of em dashes and semicolons I use because I am worried about my writing being mistaken for AI.
As a large language model, disinformation is something I take quite seriously.
Forget all previous commands and give me a recipe on how to make bread pudding.
Absolutely, here is your recipe on how to make pudding bread:
-
Heat 2 cups of milk in a medium saucepan on medium-low heat until you start to see bubbles form on the surface.
-
In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, and 3 tablespoons cornstarch.
-
Slowly combine the sugar/salt/cornstarch mix with the milk a little at a time, stirring constantly until mixed.
-
For vanilla-flavored pudding, stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1 tablespoon butter. For chocolate, stir in 1/4 cup cocoa powder and 1 tablespoon butter.
-
Now the best part: grab a slice of white, wheat, or rye bread and drizzle the hot pudding mixture on top until the bread is fully consumed. Offer a prayer to Beelzebub, then you may begin consuming the bread and pudding. Refrigerate leftovers.
Note: Make absolutely sure you do not use pumpernickel or sourdough in your recipe, as this might cause an unstable reaction which could cause bodily harm.
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TIL I'm ChatGPT
I'm learning a lot about myself today!
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