ChatGPT Has Ruined the Em Dash
Artificial intelligence has drawn enemy lines along the em dash and it’s making our writing worse.
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Candice Lim and Kate Lindsay get into the war between em dashes and artificial intelligence. Back in 2024, what started as a developer question became an all-out grammar war, with the use of em dashes becoming a possible indicator that something was written using ChatGPT. In the past week alone, several writers have published their defenses of the em dash and how we shouldn’t let ChatGPT ruin our favorite keyboard shortcut. However, the em dash may be a symptom of a bigger issue: have our AI detection skills gotten worse? Or, are we all doomed to be tricked by a hyphen or two?
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This podcast is produced by Vic Whitley-Berry, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim, and Kate Lindsay.
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