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.

[DoodleBob]

The em dash — is hotly-debated on LinkedIn as a “You’re ‘original’ article comes from Gen AI” red flag.

[nopardons]

WHAT THE BLEEDING HELL??????????????

I was an English major in college and NEVER heard of using - for ANY kind of punctuation....NOT EVER! Okay, I'm on the older side of things, but since WHEN has - been used instead of:, ; (), etc.? And I've NEVER seen it used anywhere; but then, I do NOT use/come in contact with stupid AI crap.

[jjotto]

Might be moot with texting altering the whole language, but I always thought the em-dash was used in conversationally-toned writing to indicate where a speaker would pause. Formal writing should probably stick to conventional punctuation.

[DoodleBob]

Friend, you encountered a lot of that AI crap on FR.

A lot of the articles are brought to you by AI.

[gundog]

You’ve never heard of La-a. (A girl’s name, pronounced Ladasha. The dash don’t be silent.)

[Lockbox]

- - - - - - 😂

[Bob434]

I use it all the time- maybe not always the double — but the single - at .east. bot even sure where i learned about it but have zlways used it. But then again, ,im not exzctly a lit major or anything, zmd my writing is sloppy a d amateurish

[DoodleBob]

Check out this article from Harvard’s newspaper:

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/5/28/inside-war-with-washington/

FORTY EM DASHES!!!!

—

[T Ruth]

From The Adventures of Tom Sawyer:

“Tom, it was middling warm in school, warn’t it?”
“Yes’m.”
“Powerful warm, warn’t it?”
“Yes’m.”
“Didn’t you want to go in a-swimming, Tom?”
A sort of shudder passed through Tom—a feeling of lonesomeness and homesickness was creeping over him—but he gave no sign.

[9YearLurker]

Gen Z? Everyone’s been referring to that for ages now.

[TexasFreeper2009]

Defending yourself against the Muslims trying to commit genocide against you is not genocide.

[Bob434]

I tnink its where the sriter pauses, Then switches thought-kinda like Tim grabbed the gun—his eyes never leaving the stranger’s—he shot the fella before he could unholster his pistol. (Or something like that i think)

[Bob434]

I ‘spose i should look it up lol

[enumerated]

That’s BS - I use the dash all the time and I’ve never used an AI.

[Dr. Sivana]

but since WHEN has - been used instead of:, ; (), etc.?

My Warriner's taught me that a dash ("--" on an old typewriter, NOT a hyphen) was used when a contrast or comparison was being made. It is a thing, and widely used in newspapers even in the 1970s, but more commonly used since everyone has access to real typographical characters.

The semi-colon has all but disappeared, and it is very rare that business correspondence begins with a proper colon, rather than the informal comma ("Dear Mr. Smith:" rather than "Dear Mr. Smith,").

[DoodleBob]

I wanted to conduct an experiment:

Post this article: track how many FReepers claim this is all balderdash.

Post a related article, which says NOTHING about GenZ - track how many FReepers claim this is truth.

[PAR35]

So, you have established that Tom Sawyer was written by AI.

[Tired of Taxes]

Same here - and I have never used AI for anything.

[cgbg]

I use lots of dashes around here—but I guess it could be...—but how would I know?

Lol.

[dfwgator]

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.