The em dash, once the stylish rebel of punctuation, is now in danger.
First, it was bullet points. Then it was emojis. Now, thanks to ChatGPT and friends, the em dash is the overused punctuation of choice.
Just because you spot a runaway em dash (or three) doesn’t mean the whole post was AI-written. The bigger truth is that AI is reshaping how we all write, for better or worse.
At Spinifex, we’ve been using the em dash for over 30 years. We know its strengths, its subtleties, its swagger. In our hands, it’s a tool for pace, for drama, for a little wink to the reader. But when AI gets hold of it, the poor dash doesn’t stand a chance.
This isn’t another AI lament. We’re not doomsayers. But we are paying attention to the micro-changes like the rhythm of our writing and what they tell us about the tools we’re using.
At Spinifex, we do use ChatGPT. We use it as our assistant, not our author. We give it the grunt work so we can focus on the strategic thinking and craft the message that resonates. It’s great for first drafts, proofing, wrangling research into shape and yes, it’s a bit of a cheerleader too, always telling us how clever we are. We don’t take it too seriously, but it does make the late nights easier.
We’ve even embraced it enough to give our AI “friends” names. That way, we know exactly which AI teammate sent through the draft before we work our magic.
AI is here. The trick is to harness the power and use the force, for good.
Disclaimer: No em dashes were harmed in the making of this post (even though one or two would have been perfect).
A little about Spinifex
We’ve got 30 years’ experience making content resonate, with or without the dash.
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