Tag: artificial-intelligence

The newest “AI” boogeyman is the em dash. Apparently, the large language models (LLMs) have a tendency to use em dashes. This tendency, like the use of particular vocabulary words, is being used to identify AI writing. And of course, in our modern nuance-free age, the use of AI is framed by AI-haters as cheating and by AI-lovers as appropriate use of technology.

But what if I told you that the same high school and college kids being accused of cheating because they use em dashes had been forced to learn that punctuation mark and encouraged to use that punctuation mark by ACT and College Board. Let’s delve into it!