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]

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.