Em dashes are not definitive proof that content was written by AI, but heavy or unnatural em dash usage has become associated with AI-generated writing because many AI tools overuse the punctuation mark.
Even as AI becomes more and more advanced, excessive em dash usage has become associated with AI-generated writing. And while the em dash is a real punctuation mark, the way AI uses it makes it glaringly apparent that it’s AI. While the em dash is a real sign of AI when misused, when appropriately used, the em dash can be a great way to indicate a pause for suspense or other dramatic purposes.
What Is The Em Dash?
The em dash is a punctuation mark that is supposed to be used for dramatic pauses and is, in fact, proper English; however, what AI does with the em dash is entirely different than how it’s supposed to be used. The em dash isn’t used very often by real writers because the em dash is meant to be used for dramatic effect, a pregnant pause, or an abrupt change rather than to indicate a brief pause. AI seems to use em dashes instead of a comma or a semicolon; so when AI uses em dashes so frequently, it’s like waving a huge red flag that says “WRITTEN BY AI.”
Why Does AI Use Em Dahses?
AI uses em dashes because they are used frequently in the content used to train AI. Because the em dash is a real punctuation mark, it was never flagged as risky. It is so deeply embedded into AI that many tools tend to overuse em dashes unless specifically instructed otherwise. While it’s hard to determine what was used to train AI, we know that most of it was free content online, meaning they could use it without facing plagiarism or copyright infringement. Because of this, AI systems may reproduce punctuation patterns commonly found in training data.
Has AI Taken Over Em Dashes?
While AI has made it more challenging to use em dashes as a writer, it hasn’t completely replaced them, as many writers will still use em dashes, albeit a bit more sparingly. AI has not yet caused the em dash to become completely unused by human writers. Instead, many writers are trying to incorporate them more often (and correctly) to prevent them from going out of style, as they are frustrated by AI’s improper use of the punctuation mark. Though AI hasn’t completely taken over the em dash, it has undoubtedly added a new layer of caution when using it.
Are All Em Dashes Signs of AI?
No, an em dash isn’t a sign of AI; how it’s being used is. Due to em dashes being difficult to type and AI frequently misusing them, it’s pretty easy to tell when AI has written something and when a human has used an em dash properly. Suppose you see em dashes used frequently throughout a paragraph. In that case, you can usually assume that AI wrote it, as human writers don’t utilize them every other sentence, and with real writers, you’ll see various punctuation marks.
How Does This Affect Writers?
The emergence of the AI em dash has primarily affected writers with dramatic themes who have used em dashes previously. They feel slighted that their beloved punctuation has become a widely recognized sign of AI, making their original works doubted due to a simple em dash. But really, all writers have been affected, as this shift has brought forth a new fear of being accused of using AI, which makes writers more worried about sounding robotic and fake to readers, while also forcing them to rethink their natural style and authenticity in every sentence they craft.
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Resources:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/04/09/ai-em-dash-writing-punctuation-chatgpt/
https://www.merriam-webster.com/grammar/em-dash-en-dash-how-to-use
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/em-dash-dilemma-how-punctuation-mark-became-ais-brent-csutoras-b9ldc/
