So, it’s no secret—I use AI to help out. And I’m a bit old-skool, in that the em dash was never taught to me at school. Then I ask AI to review my work and offer some suggestions for improvement. The result is littered with em dashes. And look at them, and things read well. So, I do some manual line-by-line editing, and think, these are cool. I’ll add my own.
Then, I take a look, and I have a lot. But the narrative reads well, it has impact, flow and character. Then I ask an AI to check if my work is AI-generated. And it tells me 90% is!
So I watched some YouTube videos about this and that, to discover that one of the biggest red flags is the use of em dashes. Because AI LLMs like to use them—A lot. And now I’ve discovered them, I like them… A lot.
So, what do I do? Cut them out, and forget they exist? Leave them in, and live in constant fear that no one will read my work—because they spotted an em dash? Rewrite and use clunky full stops, commas, colons, semicolons, dashes, spaces? Rewrite to avoid having to question any of this in the first place?
I dunno.
I’m sure the hype will die down after a while. Surely the content, the message, the story, is more important than the grammar? I saw a comment on a Facebook group I follow about writing and publishing. It said, ‘If you can’t write, then you’re not fit to publish. If you need AI to write—don’t.’ And I thought, ‘What an awful thing to suggest’. I could have countered with, ‘Your words are elgant and your similes strong. Your metaphors, sublime. Yet your story is dull and your characters flat. Just don’t ever write anything again.’
If you have a story to tell or a message to bring to the world, who cares what tools you use? I’m sure AI can’t look inside your head (yet) and pick out your creativity and create everything for you. Every individual has something to offer. AI is a tool. So, why use a rock to hammer in nails? Why not use AI to help get your message out or to share your story with the world?
Just need to keep an eye on the feral or rogue em dashes—They’re everywhere.
