AI’s Em Dash Habit Fuels Debate Over a 16th-Century Punctuation Mark
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jun 10
AI’s Em Dash Habit Fuels Debate Over a 16th-Century Punctuation Mark
1 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jun 10
Summary
Human writers are increasingly questioning the em dash’s value as ChatGPT-style prose makes the punctuation mark feel like a telltale sign of AI-generated text.
Online backlash has spread from social media to student forums, where some users urge applicants to strip em dashes from essays, while other writers publish defenses of the mark.
The dispute turns on whether punctuation should be judged as a utilitarian tool or as part of language’s shifting, human expressiveness, which the essay argues cannot be reduced to machine-like consistency.
Dashes have appeared in English writing since at least the 16th century and surged in the 19th century, linking today’s AI-era anxiety to a much longer history of commerce shaping language.