I have been testing ChatGPT since it launched in November 2022 and have seen updates improve its writing capabilities. However, fairly recently, I noticed a pattern in ChatGPT’s output — the repeated use of the em dash.
Also: I tested 10 AI content detectors – and these 5 correctly identified AI text every time
While the em dash is a punctuation mark loved by many writers, such as myself, as seen in the sentence above, it also seems to be ChatGPT’s favorite. While the em dash, also referred to as a hyphen, is a sophisticated way to add a pause, break, or an aside into a sentence, it may be worth switching to the comma, or you may start raising suspicions that you rely on AI.
The em dash problem
Don’t believe me? Once I started noticing this pattern, I looked it up, and it’s not just me noticing it. There are Reddit threads (19459043) OpenAI Developer CommunityDiscussions, and even There are articles that “ChatGPT Hyphen”the”ChatGPT Hyphen”.
I’ve already stated that em dash aficionados love their favorite punctuation marks, so I conducted an experiment to test these observations.
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So I asked ChatGPT for a conversational summary to explain what ChatGPT was and to define a few use cases. In the first sentence the em dash appeared:
It’s basically an AI you can talk to. – Kind of like having an extremely helpful writing buddy available 24/7. It can understand all types of questions and prompts and generate text that sounds natural and human. It can be used for a variety of writing tasks, including drafting emails, creating blog posts, creating social media captions, or helping you edit and polish your existing work. It’s great for creative projects such as stories or poetry, and it can help explain difficult concepts in an easy-to understand way. ChatGPT is a great resource for anything that involves words.
When I asked ChatGPT about New York during the summer, the em dash appeared in its output:
Definitely! New York City is vibrant and energetic in the summer, but it can also be hot, busy and overwhelming.
What you can expect:
- The weather: It is usually hot and humid with temperatures in the high 70s up to 90s degrees F (25-35degC). Thunderstorms can occasionally occur.
- Vibe.The city comes to life. There are events everywhere, parks are packed, street performers are on the streets, rooftop bars are buzzing and there are many happenings.
- Crowds – Expect longer lines for major attractions such as the Statue of Liberty and Broadway shows.
- Green Spaces: Central Park and Prospect Park are great places to cool off, enjoy a picnic or a movie, or have a picnic. SummerStage, Shakespeare in the Park and outdoor film festivals have been big hits. Food trucks, street fairs and outdoor dining are in high demand. From trendy spots in Brooklyn to classic pizzerias. Beaches and escapes:
- You can take the subway to Coney Island, or a quick train ride to beaches such as Rockaway or Long Beach to relax.
It is a mixture of chaos and magic — unforgettable. Are you curious or thinking about visiting?
And:Three clever ChatGPT Tricks that prove it’s the AI to beat.
I continued my tests and found many outputs were missing em dashes. ChatGPT has become accustomed to using em dashes, even though they are not common in everyday language.
A solution
There is a very useful trick that will keep your text em-dash-free. You can either ask ChatGPT to not use em-dashes at the end of the initial prompt, or you can tell the AI to remove them after it generates the response. ChatGPT follows instructions pretty well, so the changes will be made immediately after you ask. Also:Five ways ChatGPT will help you write essays.
If you like to use em dashes, you can do so at your risk.
Disclosure: Ziff Davis (parent company of ZDNET) filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in April 2025, alleging that it infringed Ziff Davis’ copyrights when training and operating their AI systems.
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