Some people think AI writing has a tell—the em dash; writers disagree

(Image: Getty)

Sun, 13 Apr 2025

By Daniel WuSuspicious that an awkward email or stilted college essay may have been written by artificial intelligence? Some people think there’s a surefire way to tell – the em dash.Writers, journalists and other grammar nerds – we’re sorry.In recent months, commenters on social media have zeroed in on the humble punctuation mark – or its overuse – as a sign that writing is produced by generative AI tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT instead of a human. Bad essays are said to have “a GPT amount of...

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