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.

[dfwgator]

[Billthedrill]

Yup. Of all the rule’s in English thats the most important.

[nopardons]

LOL...it’s still sillier than the kid who was named LEMON JELLO!

[BipolarBob]

I wouldn’t be surprised if they embed hidden characters that don’t show on the screen, but will be there if you cut and paste.

Can they do that??

[dfwgator]

I saw what you did there.

[Bob434]

I tHink my gen was probably about the last to learn cursive . Kids today cant even tell time using analogue clocks anymore. Thankfully my sister pulled her kids from public schools and thry learned from Abeka home schooling, so they got a good education, and learned all the “old-timey” lessons that we all used to learn.

When i say i learned the hyphen use early in life, i didnt uxe it in school- just for,informal writing, which back then was paper and pen, not keyboards and cell phones. So g,ad i grew up without all thr electronic garbage of today! We got pur entertainment outside, in the neighborhood, being active rambunctious kids- life rrally was a lot better in those days. Healthier too.

[dayglored]

I'm in trouble -- I use two hyphens a lot. Like that. Because as a computer IT guy and programmer I'm constantly typing commands that use two hyphens, such as:

someprogram --version

Microsoft Word often changes two hyphens into a long dash, I'm never sure whether it's an N-dash or an M-dash, but it's no longer two hyphens anymore.

So this business about it being a ChatGPT sign is pure hell.

[Bob434]

Here’s a no limit free ai humaizer (the one you posted to only allows 250 words)

https://notegpt.io/ai-humanizer

Wouldnt suprise me if ther is an “Ai slangerizer” out there too, or an “Ai Ghetto talk” (zlthough im sure that the right prompts will convert any sentences to ghetto or slang in mkst ai)

[nopardons]

I think that Gen X was the last to be taught script, but even in an "elite" private school, it was NOT they way I had learned how to write script in the 4th grade.

Out morning began with the Pledge, the National Anthem, then it everyone standing up and doing that day's multiplication orally; sit down, get your straight pen, open the inkwell and do a page that that week's letter, which you'd have to do again, with the other letters you knew, for part of your homework.

Inkwells and straight pens were long gone by the time my progeny came along,the penmanship lessons weren't as rigorous, and it all went rapidly down hill for the Millennials and the Gen Zers! :-(

FREE TIME PLAY? That's long gone! Today and for a while now, kids are overly programed, there are too damned many helicopter parents,far too many electronic things given to far children at far too young an age, and I don't think the kids have as much fun and children used to.

[Bob434]

Here is the reults when asking ai to ghettoize the following sentences lol

Change the following to ghetto talk. My cousin ran so hard for the fly ball that he couldn’t stop and crashed right through the fence and landed in Mrs. Robinsons flower bed. Wow was she mad.

Yo, my cuzzo was zoomin’ for that ball, ain’t even slow up, straight bust through that janky-(bleep) fence, crash-landed dead smack in ol’ girl Mrs. Robinson’s flowas. Shawty came out yellin’, lookin’ like she finna catch a case!

[Bob434]

Im not even sure what gen i am lol- (born in the 60’s) straight pens were long gone by the time i was in school. Although we did have refillable fountsin pens, but hardly anyone used them. Ae .earned cursive early, so it stuck with us. Can still use it today (and read it too).

[logi_cal869]

That’s nuts.

[nopardons]

Depending on the year that you were born in, you are either a LATE BOOMER or EARLY Gen Xer.

In the fifth grade, we were allowed to use a fountain pen, which we all LOVED using. By high school, we could use a ballpoint or fountain pen.

I ONLY write in cursive, when handwriting letters ( yes, I still do that, as well as sending E-mails ), writing a list or brief notes, on cards, envelopes, etc.!

Sadly it appears to be a dying out/lost "art for" now. :-(

[Bob434]

Took me 4 tries with the ai to get it even close tothe unreadable ghetto talk of today, but here is the result

Aye yo mah cuhz was outchea skrappin’ fo dat thang, SKRT BLAP-BLAM—fence done gonzo, KA-RUNCH smackin’ in ol’ Miz Robbo’s flahwaz, an’ shawtee be out dere like “OOOAAAHHHHHHHHHH” skitzin all cray cray!!!

[Bob434]

Yep, kids today see it and think its a foreign language sadly. Many can’t even do basic math either. One girl though is suing her school for passing her without requiring her to know basic things like math, leaving her unprepared for college.I hope she wins! And I hope schools at some point begin to take education seriously again.

[nopardons]

My grandson and his friends ( at a university ) can read it; they just don't write it. But then, most of them went to private schools, as did the Grand. But he can read it, since that's the way I do write to him ( always have ), when not using email.

But he's also a BIG reader, has always LOVED books, and yet, the news claims that Gen Zers do NOT read books for enjoyment. News items are always painted with a very large brush and the good kids never make the news.

[alexander_busek]

I was an English major in college and NEVER heard of using - for ANY kind of punctuation

Please don't embarrass yourself any further; the em dash is a legitimate punctuation mark.

Maybe just say that you were sick on the day that was discussed.

Regards,

[nopardons]

It was NEVER discussed and actually, it was assumed that we knew how to correctly use punctuation, when we wrote anything and we did.

Yes, it was spoken about, but NOBODY mentioned using -, instead of/in place of: () , : ; ! And we even covered using "...". But thanks for proving just how little you understand what courses English majors did have to take; your uneducated post proves that nobody should talk about things they don't know about nor understand at all.

[alexander_busek]

But thanks for proving just how little you understand what courses English majors did have to take; your uneducated post proves that nobody should talk about things they don't know about nor understand at all.

Sorry! When you wrote "college," I just assumed you meant "special school."

Regards,

[blackberry1]

All Freeper posts have been written by Chat. I’ve been out by the hyphen. It’s over for me.....