Why Does AI Love Em Dashes So Much?

If you’ve ever read something online and thought, “Wow, that sentence had more dashes than a Formula 1 track”, chances are, it was written (or at least helped along) by AI.

Yep. Em dashes…. You know, these things: — — have become the unofficial mascot of machine-made writing. 

They pop up everywhere. 

In blogs. 

In emails. 

In captions trying way too hard to sound deep. 

But why? What is it about this one punctuation mark that has AI obsessed?

Let’s break it down.

The Em Dash: AI’s Favourite Party Trick

I grew up loving grammar. I loved writing. Em dashes were in my educational era, the cool kids of punctuation. They’re stylish, dramatic, and flexible. You can use them to interrupt a thought, like this. Or sneak in extra info — kind of like parentheses, but sassier. They’re the spice rack of grammar: add one for flavour, two for flair.

Now, AI is being trained on mountains of text. Think novels, news articles, blogs, corporate reports, Reddit posts, and probably your cousin’s food blog from 2013. And guess what’s all over those texts? That’s right: enter these once cool em dashes. So, naturally, AI picked them up and thought: “Ah, yes. Humans love these. I shall use them. A lot.”

Trying to Sound Human — With a Dash of Dash

Em dashes mimic how we talk. We pause mid-sentence. We circle back. We go off on tangents. The em dash is great for faking that “Hey, I’m just talking to you!” vibe.

So, when you ask AI to write in a casual, friendly, human-sounding tone, it whips out the em dash like it’s seasoning. Only sometimes, it doesn’t know when to stop. Before you know it, every sentence is doing acrobatics — like this — and you start to feel like you’re reading a script written by a drama major with a serious caffeine addiction.

It’s Not Wrong….Just Obvious

Let’s be clear: there’s nothing technically wrong with using em dashes. They’re grammatically legit. But when they appear too often, it starts to feel robotic, kind of like a friend who always says “literally” or “no offence” but then offends you, literally.

It becomes a pattern. And patterns are what AI excels at (and struggles with). If every paragraph leans on the same trick, it starts feeling samey. That once charming tone turns a bit stale, and everyone stops reading your content.

How to Tame the Dash

If you’re using AI to write (no shame — we all do it), here’s how to stop the em dash from taking over your life:

• Mix it up: Use commas, semicolons, or — shock horror — full stops.
  
• Break long sentences: If it’s running on forever with multiple em dashes, maybe just split it in two.
  
• Read it out loud: If it sounds like your writing is out of breath, it probably needs less drama.

The em dash is like hot sauce. A little adds flavour. A lot? Well, now your reader’s mouth is on fire, and they can’t taste anything else.

So, if your AI-generated content is em dashing all over the place, take a micro break. 

Give the poor comma some love. Let a full stop shine. And remember: punctuation is like personality — best served in moderation.