This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Lumir S Vinod
Are you someone who uses ChatGPT or any other AI for content creation on any platform? If so, you need to understand the theory of the em dash and the problems it may cause for you in the near future, or, for your authenticity, it may lead others to label your content as AI-generated.
Why is this happening?
It is often auto-inserted by AI models because:
Stylistic defaults: Many AI models are trained on formal articles, blogs, and books where the em dash is commonly used.
Text normalization: During training, publishers and writers often prefer em dashes instead of the regular hyphen — or en dash –.
Unicode handling: The em dash is a separate Unicode character (U+2014). AI models tend to output it when trying to mimic natural, professional writing.
The main reason may question your humanity in content:
A hyphen (-) is on every keyboard. An em dash ( — ) is not; you usually have to insert it via Alt codes, special characters, or copy-paste.
Because most people don’t bother with that in everyday typing, when readers see an em dash in casual posts, it can feel like it didn’t come from a human.
Conclusion
Try to avoid the em dash. Even if you don’t create the whole content using AI and only use it for grammar correction, use a prompt like “only grammar correct,” then remove the em dash and replace it with commas or anything more common. Do you want an example? It’s the content you’re reading! Just kidding.
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Lumir S Vinod
Lumir S Vinod | Sciencx (2025-10-27T09:55:15+00:00) The Em Dash Trap: How a Tiny Symbol Can Outsmart Your AI Cover | Lumir S Vinod. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2025/10/27/the-em-dash-trap-how-a-tiny-symbol-can-outsmart-your-ai-cover-lumir-s-vinod/
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