Do Em Dashes Make You Look Like AI? Poll Results Inside

A few weeks ago, I posted a poll on LinkedIn about the em dash and AI.

It was sparked by an editing question. You know, the kind you wrestle with in silence for 17 minutes and then toss up on LinkedIn like a hot potato to see who else is stewing in the same grammatical grease fire.

Here’s what I asked, for a “friend:”

Only 87 people voted.

The post itself got 2,078 impressions, but just 17 comments. Which surprised me. Are we just exhausted by the em dash? Or has the “AI tells” conversation already jumped the shark?

Or maybe (and this is my theory) … people don’t care about the em dash and AI. At least, not as much as we care.

Exhibit B: My College Friends at the Beach

Here’s another other data point; and it might be the more important one.

Also last month, I was at the beach with a group of my college friends. All women. All smart. All accomplished in very different ways:

• One works in HR tech
  
• One’s a high school teacher
  
• One’s in media and publishing
  
• One’s in higher education PR
  
• One’s in online commerce in Italy
  

And none of them had ever heard that em dashes were considered an AI tell.

To quote one:

“Wait… people are saying punctuation makes your writing look like it’s from a robot?”

Exactly.

So here’s the disconnect. Inside the marketing/content bubble? We’re quietly fretting over whether an em dash gives us away as synthetic.

Outside the bubble? Nobody even knows there is a debate.

And that made me pause.

The Commentary Camps on the Em Dash and AI (Back on LinkedIn)

The poll’s comment section was small but mighty, so I grouped responses into four clear buckets:

Camp #1: Team Em Dash Forever

These folks came out strong in defense of the em dash. It’s expressive. It’s human. And it’s been around long before ChatGPT showed up at the party.

• “I love the em dash and use it profusely. Always have.”
  
• “Long live the em dash!”
  
• “They existed before AI. Heck, I’ve used them since high school and that wasn’t yesterday 😁”
  
• “Em dashes existed long before AI…as did great writers.”
  

Camp #2: The Case-by-Case Editors

This group took a more nuanced approach. Em dashes aren’t bad, but overuse can be distracting, especially if it clashes with brand voice or feels formulaic.

• “If the brand uses em dashes (in the brand voice/tone guide), leave them in. If they’re out of place/make the blog feel disconnected from the brand, remove.”
  
• “I would whittle them down. And I also prefer spaces around the em dashes and AI always does no spaces (but I heard this is changing), so I typically make that change too.”
  
• “It really depends! I loved em dashes before GPT and still do, but much like my obsession with parentheses, they can be overused. If they were excessive I would whittle them down, but I wouldn’t remove them all just for the sake of trying not to look like AI.”
  
• “It depends. 1. Look for other formulaic constructions that may be associated with AI content. 2. Revise the piece myself, removing some, changing structure, giving the content more humanity, 3. Send it out and see what happens. Get the data and follow it from there.”
  

Camp #3: Once Loved, Now Cautious

Here, the em dash is collateral damage. These folks used to love it; but now they remove it, reluctantly, because it might make content look AI-generated.

• “I remove them now, unfortunately. I wrote with them and considered them a form of artful writing, but AI has destroyed them. 🙁”
  
• “I always remove them now even though I love them because I don’t want it to be dismissed because they think its AI.”
  

Camp #4: The AI Angle (and One Existential Crisis)

For this group, em dashes aren’t the real issue; it’s what they symbolize. They’re looking for patterns. Tells. Anything that might signal AI-generated content.

Some also questioned whether blog posts are even worth the effort in 2025 (I have thoughts on that, too).

• “Absolutely—first I’d interrogate the em dashes—did they write themselves—or were they—gasp—AI-generated? Then I’d sprinkle a few more—because—why not—make it look convincingly human—dash-happy—chaotic—but still charming—like me—on a Monday morning—”
  
  
• “Option 4: Why are we doing blog posts in 2025? People are not reading them. How can we turn the blog post into video content that might stand a chance of being consumed?”
  

My Take on the Em Dash and AI

I’m still digesting it all. But here’s where I’ve landed (for now):

• If the ideas are yours, and AI is your ghostwriter? That’s fine.
  
• But if the ideas come from AI, a generic prompt, or an article written by someone else? That’s not writing. That’s reassembling.

Also: Em dashes aren’t inherently evil. They don’t automatically mean “this was written by a bot.” But in some circles, they’re starting to feel like a scarlet letter. Or maybe a scarlet dash?

And that’s a shame. Because I love a good em dash. I love the beat it creates in a sentence. The breath it gives. The casual drama.

But maybe the real takeaway here isn’t about punctuation at all; it’s about perspective.

Your Turn

Where do you fall on the em dash and AI issue?

• Do you notice (or care) about how many em dashes someone uses?
  
• Have you edited your own writing to “look less AI”?
  
• Or are you team “This is ridiculous, just publish the thing”?
  

Let me know in the comments on the original LinkedIn post. I’m genuinely curious. Because based on the poll response, and the beach convo, I think that the em dash and AI issue might be one of those things that feels big to us in the marketing and content worlds… but doesn’t even register elsewhere.

Until next time,

jj

Jeanne Jennings is the Founder and Chief Strategist at Email Optimization Shop, a boutique consultancy and training organization where she helps clients craft more effective and more profitable email programs.

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