Gen Z discovers hack to reveal who’s using ChatGPT — and this common punctuation mark is the telltale sign of AI writing

NY Post ^ | April 14, 2025 | Brooke Steinberg

[DoodleBob]

Gen Z thinks they’ve figured out a dead giveaway that someone has used ChatGPT — and it might surprise you.

The em dash (—) is punctuation loved by writers everywhere, functioning like a comma, colon or a pair of parentheses. It can be used to sum up information at the end of a sentence, encase supplementary information within a sentence, emphasize a point or expand upon something that comes before it, according to Merriam-Webster.

But according to Gen Z, the dash is actually a so-called “ChatGPT hyphen.”

The phenomenon started gaining attention online after podcasters Daisy Reed and Sapna Rao, co-hosts of the “LuxeGen Podcast,” discussed it in a recent episode.

The clip went viral on X after a user shared it and wrote the caption, “The fact that Zoomers are unironically referring to the em dash as ‘the ChatGPT hyphen’ is wild.”

Reed pointed out that clothing brand PrettyLittleThing announced a rebrand on social media, and the top comment under the new ad copy was: “Including the ChatGPT hyphen is insane.”

The hosts jokingly shared a “public service announcement” to delete em dashes from your writing if you don’t want to be accused of using AI.

[alexander_busek]

I bought a motorcycle; life is too short 5o care about safety. [...] I bought a bike b3cause life is too short to care about safety [...] Ther3 are other uses too

We all stand in awe before your superior command of English orthography and punctuation!

Regards,

[alexander_busek]

There's There are over 450 of them in Pride and Prejudice alone

Depends upon the version you are referencing. E.g., the serialized version contains a whopping 465 em dashes. I know because I just counted them.

(Heh-heh!)

Regards,

P.S. Did you folks know that ChatGPT and Co. can read your FR comments even before you have officially posted them? It's true!

[alexander_busek]

I was taught in English class that a dash is to be used when nothing else is perfectly fitting.

So your frowsy old "Mrs. Jensen" (who got her B.A. in English and degree in teaching from a 3rd-rate state college, and who was, at best, a "C student") is your definitive, "go-to" source?

Regards,

[alexander_busek]

[...] our professors would gratuitously mark up our papers [...]

So, "without good reason," or "free of charge?"

gra·tuit·ous·ly

[ɡrəˈtjuːɪtəsli]

adverb

without good reason; unjustifiably:

"artefacts were gratuitously destroyed" · "gratuitously insulting remarks"

free of charge:

"his care was provided gratuitously"

Regards,

[Bob434]

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Fat fingers and small keyboard- but thanks for showing us all how superior you are- rega4ds

[gloryblaze]

You hardly know whether my English teacher was an A student or a C one, or whether or not she was “frowsy.”

But I am very, very good at punctuation, whether by school lessons or by reading excellent writers.

[CodeToad]

Words like “insane” tell me the age of the writer.

[mewzilla]

Who needs AI when we have Weird Al...

Word Crimes

[fuzzylogic]

Get over yourself.

Jeez....do you really believe I was trying to be perfect in a COMMENT? I’m a hell of a lot more educated than you on other topics.