Maybe?
An emerging trend we are seeing is people believing they can spot AI-generated content when they see a “long fat dash”.
This dash is also known as the em dash. It looks like this “—”.
At Magnetic, we have always been huge fans of the em dash and have used it for years in our own human-generated content. (Exhibit A: This article.)
Em dashes are a unique way to break up otherwise lengthy sentences, which is a common issue we navigate in science communications. They also act like little arrows within text to move the reader’s eye onto the next phrase.
However, as more AI-generated content floods the internet, we at Magnetic are wondering if we need to drop the em dash. We take great pride in delivering high-quality work and do not want to look computer generated.
For now, we are keeping a close eye on this trend and carefully considering every dash in our writing. We will likely pare down the number we use. If this trend continues, we may need to stop using them altogether.
Any other writing characteristic you associate with AI? Let us know so we can adapt our writing accordingly.