Please Stop Attacking the Em Dash

By Avery Zimmerman

As soon as people started using generative AI to write content, they began sharing ways to "spot" it. At first, I appreciated the effort. But very quickly, it started to feel like McCarthyism — with people accusing others of using AI at the first sight of an em dash (supposedly the tell-tale sign something was written by a robot). 

I would like to clear the air. 

Proper Uses of the Em Dash

The em dash (created, at least on my Mac, by pressing the option + shift + hyphen) can function like a: 

• Comma: The town square was nearly empty — except for a stray cat who clearly ran the place. 

• Semicolon: Harry would never forget the Tuesday that Mabel called him from the bakery, her voice brimming with excitement — the bakery had added cheese Danishes to its selection.*

• Parentheses: The bakery's significantly broad hours of operation — 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. — certainly showed concern for customers’ manifold circumstances.* 

Just look at how much drama they create! Sure, you could swap in other punctuation — and yes, nine out of 10 times I accidentally hit command + hyphen and make my screen small — but nothing creates the same visual pause. And parentheses look messy. Commas don't deliver the same pause. 

Are You People Not Reading?

In a world where most of us barely read things out loud anymore, I love that the em dash creates a pause you can SEE. It says, "Hey, you. Even if you skimmed the last three paragraphs, be sure you read this one." 

That's what you want in a narrative. The em dash gives writers the ability to pause, pace, and guide a reader's attention. It's a craft thing. It's a beat, a cue, a moment. AI doesn't know how to do that — not really. When AI uses the em dash, it's just trying to vary the sentence structure. Break up the pattern, and make the text look more "human." 

Recently, my manager, Kaitlin, sent me a McSweeney's piece that had me actually laughing out loud: "The Em Dash Responds to the AI Allegations" by Greg Mania. Not only was this piece extremely funny, but it also verbalized one of the main things I've been thinking since em-dash use has become synonymous with generative AI: 

"Let's be honest: The real issue isn't me [the em dash] — it's you. You simply don't read enough. If you did, you'd know I've been here for centuries. I'm in Austen. I'm in Baldwin. I've appeared in Pulitzer-winning prose, viral op-eds…" 

Exactly! Thank you, Greg! I see em dashes every day working as an editor, and even more as an avid reader — whether it's literary fiction or my weekly New Yorker. Potential hot take here: if you were actually reading, you'd know that. 

Maybe Your Motivations Are Nefarious… 

Like I said, when I first saw the "10 tell-tale signs something was written with AI" posts, I didn't mind. I'm not anti-AI. I know it can help people organize their thoughts or maybe even provide suggestions. 

What bothered me about the posts was that they weren't just PSAs. They were how-to manuals for people who wanted their AI-generated work to pass as human. The "red flags" weren't meant to help readers avoid fake content — they were helping people camouflage it! 

But suddenly, any human writer who used one was fielding allegations of AI. We've lost the plot, people! 

If It Sounds like AI, It's Probably AI

So why are we fixated on punctuation? Like it's a forensive clue — but a clue for what, exactly? A "gotcha" moment? Proof someone used the latest tech to… what? 

If someone uses AI to draft their entire article, slap their name on it, and call it original — shame on them. But if someone uses it to refine their work or improve ideas that never would have seen the light of day otherwise? Where's the harm? 

The punctuation isn't the problem. What we should be looking for is authenticity. Is there a perspective here that couldn't come from a generic prompt? That's what matters — authenticity, a voice, a point of view! 

The good news is that the more AI-generated sludge that floods the internet, the easier it is to spot the genuine thing. The sentence has rhythm, a voice that feels alive, and an em dash that creates just the right beat. 

So please — stop treating the em-dash like a smoking gun for AI instead of a centuries-old tool that's helped countless writers capture rhythm and drama. It's one of the most human bits of punctuation we have! The em-dash is not the enemy. If you really want to fight AI, stop accusing punctuation. Start supporting writers! The red flag isn't the em dash. It's the lack of authenticity. 

*Examples provided by Merriam-Webster.