Real people use em dashes — the models were trained on real human output after all — so this new crusade against em dashes as the Mark of Beast for AI has always been and continues to be silly.
Yeah I’m not defending AI output here, it absolutely follows awful and easily recognizable tropes. I’m just trying to fight against the current “em dash = AI” bullshit because, again, real people use real grammar. And people have been using non-LLM spelling & grammar checks which push syntax like em dashes forever; are we to assume that people suddenly stopped using these non-“smart” tools?
Rally against AI slop all you want, I support you, it’s just the promotion of the dumbed down reductive takes like em dashes or semicolons are indicative of AI.
I should’ve been more precise; em dashes are just a piece of the puzzle, however, the smart tools you reference are normally programmed to convert dashes to em-dashes under the following condition:
Text > space > hyphen > space > text
Unless you go back afterwards and delete the spaces between words, the AI text is going to stand out due to its tendencies to use em-dashes in place of semicolons without spaces—like this.
It does suck that we need to take a reactive approach to dealing with the perception our emails might not be written by us, or…
Take it back by using them anyway, and insisting our messages are legit.
Though, unless AI stops generating text with far less em-dashes, I think this is an uphill battle which isn’t worth our stubborn insistence. though, that really depends on whether it’s important for our messages to seem to be written by us.
For me, where I work, people have become very judgemental (though not everyone knows) when they receive an email heavy with em-dashes.
Very valid points. And frankly if I’m being honest with myself, I think I know this is ultimately a losing battle, as this is a field where perception is king, and I guess I’m really just venting my frustration with the situation. I think we’re mostly all frustrated with it honestly, but it’s a bell we can’t really un-ring, so here we are. Cheers.
Sure, but it’s also in the tone, language and grammatical structure. After you know what you’re looking for, you can feel whether it’s AI written.
For what it’s worth, I’d be cautious about using em dashes; people basically associate it with AI without exception.
Even when I use a document editor, and it sometimes 'auto swaps" a dash for an em-dash, I’ll undo it. Just because I wouldn’t want to be perceived as copy/pasting something.
Did you AI generate this entire response…?
Yes! I was going to write something, but I loathe crosstreks and their owners to the point where I didn’t want to waste my own time.
Pretty obvious on account of all the em dashes lol.
Real people use em dashes — the models were trained on real human output after all — so this new crusade against em dashes as the Mark of Beast for AI has always been and continues to be silly.
Real people use emojis too
Doesn’t explain why AI bots loooooove:
Yeah I’m not defending AI output here, it absolutely follows awful and easily recognizable tropes. I’m just trying to fight against the current “em dash = AI” bullshit because, again, real people use real grammar. And people have been using non-LLM spelling & grammar checks which push syntax like em dashes forever; are we to assume that people suddenly stopped using these non-“smart” tools?
Rally against AI slop all you want, I support you, it’s just the promotion of the dumbed down reductive takes like em dashes or semicolons are indicative of AI.
I should’ve been more precise; em dashes are just a piece of the puzzle, however, the smart tools you reference are normally programmed to convert dashes to em-dashes under the following condition:
Text > space > hyphen > space > text
Unless you go back afterwards and delete the spaces between words, the AI text is going to stand out due to its tendencies to use em-dashes in place of semicolons without spaces—like this.
It does suck that we need to take a reactive approach to dealing with the perception our emails might not be written by us, or…
Take it back by using them anyway, and insisting our messages are legit.
Though, unless AI stops generating text with far less em-dashes, I think this is an uphill battle which isn’t worth our stubborn insistence. though, that really depends on whether it’s important for our messages to seem to be written by us.
For me, where I work, people have become very judgemental (though not everyone knows) when they receive an email heavy with em-dashes.
Very valid points. And frankly if I’m being honest with myself, I think I know this is ultimately a losing battle, as this is a field where perception is king, and I guess I’m really just venting my frustration with the situation. I think we’re mostly all frustrated with it honestly, but it’s a bell we can’t really un-ring, so here we are. Cheers.
Let’s yell at that cloud—together 🤜🤛
I use em dashes…I think it’s sad that a proper grammatical construct is so thoroughly ignored by most people that now it’s a sign of inhumanity.
Sure, but it’s also in the tone, language and grammatical structure. After you know what you’re looking for, you can feel whether it’s AI written.
For what it’s worth, I’d be cautious about using em dashes; people basically associate it with AI without exception.
Even when I use a document editor, and it sometimes 'auto swaps" a dash for an em-dash, I’ll undo it. Just because I wouldn’t want to be perceived as copy/pasting something.