The humble em dash—that elegant horizontal line longer than a hyphen but shorter than a horizontal rule—has suddenly found itself at the center of an unexpected controversy. Once merely a punctuation preference for writers seeking to add flow, emphasis, or a conversational tone to their writing, the em dash has now become labeled as a supposed “telltale sign” of AI-generated content.

As someone who has spent years creating content and developing my own writing style, I find this latest front in the AI detection wars both amusing and troubling. The wave of self-proclaimed AI detectives on LinkedIn and other platforms pointing to em dashes as evidence of artificiality reveals more about our collective anxiety around AI than about the technology itself.

The Great Em Dash Panic

Scroll through LinkedIn these days and you’ll likely encounter posts warning about the “ChatGPT hyphen” or offering tips on how to “spot AI content” by looking for these horizontal lines. “Some would-be AI sleuths claim that the em dash is seldom seen outside of AI text. Others think that chatbots are more prone to misusing or overusing the punctuation mark,” according to a recent Washington Post article.

The irony? Many professional writers, myself included, have been using em dashes liberally long before ChatGPT existed. They’re not some alien invention—they’re a legitimate punctuation mark with a rich history in English writing. As J.T. Bushnell, a senior instructor at Oregon State University’s School of Writing, Literature and Film notes, the em dash is “aesthetically elegant” and “captures something about natural inflections of speech in a way that other punctuation doesn’t.”

When I saw another creative professional defending her use of em dashes on LinkedIn against the AI accusers, I felt immediate solidarity. That punctuation mark belongs to all of us who find it useful—AI didn’t invent it, even if it might have picked up the habit from the very human writers whose work formed its training data.

Why Writers Love The Em Dash

So what makes this particular punctuation mark so appealing to both human writers and AI systems? The em dash is versatile. It can replace a comma to create emphasis, stand in for parentheses to integrate asides more smoothly into text, or substitute for a colon to dramatically introduce an idea.

But more than its technical function, the em dash creates rhythm in writing. It allows for natural pauses and flow shifts that mimic conversational speech patterns. It lets writers inject personality and emphasis without the formality of semicolons or the fragmentation of periods.

As one writer passionately defended on social media: “The em dash is not punctuation, it’s a vibe. It’s a feeling. You don’t use it because it makes grammatical sense — you use it because your heart tells you to.” That human quality—the feeling behind the punctuation choice—is precisely what makes accusations of the em dash being solely an AI quirk so misguided.

The Futility of “Exposing” AI Use

This punctuation panic reveals a deeper issue: the growing obsession with “catching” AI usage as though it were some form of deception that must be exposed. But this detective work is both misguided and ultimately futile for several reasons.

First, AI systems are trained on human writing—so any patterns they exhibit necessarily originated with humans. When AI systems use em dashes, they’re mimicking patterns they’ve observed in human writing, not creating alien linguistic structures.

Second, focusing on superficial markers like punctuation misses the point entirely. As noted in Rolling Stone, “The true signature of a ChatGPT response is more abstract and less definite. It’s the flat quality, the formulaic sentences, the absence of original ideas.” Good AI-assisted writing doesn’t stand out because of punctuation choices but blends seamlessly with human-created content.

Finally, even if certain punctuation patterns were once reliable indicators, they won’t remain so. AI systems are evolving rapidly, and writing patterns are easily adjusted. The em dash “tell” is already becoming outdated as systems become more sophisticated and adaptable to different styles.

AI as Tool, Not Replacement

The impulse to “expose” AI use stems from a fundamental misunderstanding of AI’s role in creative work. AI isn’t replacing human creativity—it’s augmenting it. The most valuable approach isn’t to reject these tools outright or use them as invisible ghostwriters, but to integrate them thoughtfully into our creative processes.

As creative professionals, we should be focusing on how AI can help us work more efficiently, overcome creative blocks, or explore new ideas—not worrying about whether our punctuation choices might trigger someone’s AI detector. The best AI usage is transparent and additive to human creativity, not deceptive or subtractive.

I use AI tools regularly in my work—daily, in fact—for brainstorming, editing suggestions, research assistance, and sometimes for generating first drafts that I heavily revise. There are numerous times where an AI first draft comes out 95% where I would want it to be, after a thoughtful, deliberate prompt on my part. I’m not ashamed of using AI as much as I do, nor do I try to hide it. In fact, many AI models like Claude are adding features that seek to learn my very specific writing style to create better first drafts I can use. I don’t let AI dictate my style, voice, or punctuation preferences. The em dashes in my writing are there because I put them there, whether AI suggested them or not.

Embracing Distinctively Human Creativity

Rather than obsessing over punctuation “tells,” we should be focusing on what truly distinguishes human creativity: original perspectives, authentic voice, emotional resonance, and purposeful innovation. These are qualities that AI can help enhance but not fully replicate.

The best response to AI anxiety isn’t to avoid certain punctuation marks or writing patterns—it’s to double down on what makes your creative work uniquely yours. Use em dashes proudly if they serve your voice. Embrace the tools that help you create better work. Be transparent about your process when appropriate.

And perhaps most importantly, let’s move beyond the binary thinking that frames AI as either a threat to be exposed or a crutch to be hidden. It’s a tool—powerful, complex, and rapidly evolving—but still just a tool.

So I’ll continue using em dashes when they feel right—when they help my writing flow, when they create the pauses and emphases I want, when they serve my voice. I refuse to be shamed out of a punctuation mark I love because of misguided AI paranoia. After all, that long horizontal line has been serving writers perfectly well for generations—long before AI was even conceived—and it deserves better than to become collateral damage in our technological anxieties.

The em dash isn’t a sign of artificial intelligence. It’s a sign of a writer who cares about rhythm, flow, and emphasis—human qualities that technology can mimic but never truly replace.