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You're not a computer, you're just making terrible formatting choices.
The whole em dash argument is bullshit propagated by LinkedIn lunatics with zero knowledge of AI, writing or typography.
Different types of dashes/hyphens have different uses. People who take care of their copy and understand the nuances of punctuation use em dashes regularly. People who are in a rush, typing on phones or simply who don't know any better, put the same en dash everywhere.
Em dashes is one of the things that LLMs actually do right for a change. Calling text with em dashes weird, unnatural or ai generated is like making fun of someone for using proper grammar or hygiene.
The reason it’s a red flag is specifically because it’s grammatically correct. People don’t tend to write like that online. Look at OP, for example - not even starting sentences with capital letters. That’s why it stands out when something is written too well to be human. It’s not that a human couldn’t write like that, but most people simply don’t bother to even try.
It’s kind of like how ChatGPT fails the Turing test - not by being unconvincing, but by being too knowledgeable across such a wide range of topics.
People also don't type in proper punctuation because our keyboards are stuck in the olden times and most online forum and social media platforms are same old garbage what comes to typography.
I'm an amateur writer, I love it when word processors replace straight quotes (") with proper double quotes based on the language (“like this”, ”kuten näin”, «comme ça») and instead of minus (-) you get actual real dashes—as one does. But good luck implementing this on social media. Even blogware handles this pretty badly, the only way to get proper punctuation is to write the post in a word processor.
Depending on the phone and keyboard, I actually find it easier to use em and en dashes on mobile instead of the computer. Usually on mobile I can just hit the button for numbers/symbols and long-press the hyphen-minus, then select the appropriate alternate dash. Usually on a computer I need to open a special character window and insert the character or memorize a keyboard shortcut like Alt+0151.
I think you're missing the point here. Nobody is saying em dashes are making texts worse.
They're just one of many indicators that can together allow for a good guess as to whether a text is AI generated or not.
Of course not all texts using them are AI generated, but if you also bold random words, use a lot of unnecessary and obscure emoji, put everything into bulletpoints and end your text with a useless summary, then people might get suspicious.
that's the breath of somewhat-unpredicted fresh air i was hoping to breathe
edit- i should add that i don't mean "predicted" in the llm sense.
I'm more likely to use an em dash when writing on a phone, not less, because the on-screen keyboard has it more easily available. It's when I'm using a physical keyboard writing on desktop that I'm more likely to use two hyphens.
It's em-dashes and semi-colons too. I use both of those on a regular basis so can empathize with OP.
Same. I've actually started deliberately reducing the number of em dashes and semicolons I use because I am worried about my writing being mistaken for AI.
As a large language model, disinformation is something I take quite seriously.
hi
please mark your account as a bot account so it will be caught in the filter
thanks
And with the machines I assume
Here's your list of Cupcake Ingredients:
- 1 Cup of Flour
- 1 Cup of Flint, Michigan Nestle-Water
- 1 Cup of Highly Tariffed "Freedom" Eggs
- 12 fl oz of Fine Moscow Polonium
For Improved Information Accuracy, please purchase an OpenAI subscription at 50% off today! Satisfaction Guaranteed!
11/10 i made these and my children are literally glowing with happiness now
Been using them for years—I don’t plan to stop now!
Ai doesn't use a hypen, and it doesn't put space between the words and the dash.
For example, If I were using a dash - I'd use it like this.
Ai uses it—like this.
So, AI uses it correctly.
Yes, and people think that using it correctly is a sign of Ai now.
Holy crap, I've been an AI all this time!
Be cool, man, be cool--maybe they won't be able to tell...
The AI models I’ve seen DO put spaces before and after the dash—that’s how I’ve been able to suss out LLM posts in the past. I never put spaces because it’s WRONG!
It's not a proof that something was written by AI but it's a red flag.
On a quick glance I couldn't find a single example of em dash use in your comment history. You're using hyphens instead.
Most people aren't taking the time to type in ctrl+shift+u+2+0+1+4 when a regular minus-dash would get the point across with a single keystroke. But there is enough of a distinction that some people (like you and I) will use the proper punctuation when there is an opportunity to do so.
What I find far more suspicious is the unicode hyphen, because no human would be able to tell the difference, and would therefore always choose to input a minus.
Not sure, if that's a Linux thing, but I can press Alt Gr and - to get an en-dash, as well Alt Gr and Shift and - to get an em-dash.
If I hold the - on my phone I get –—¯
I use em and en dashes according to traditional grammar rules. Been that way for years. It just looks and reads nicer. AI won’t take that from me.
I use them too and I hate seeing them substituted by hyphens. High five.
I love dashes – they help better convey the flow of my thinking in written form.
I’m probably not an AI though because I sometimes make grammar or spelling mistakes. Since english isn’t my native language.
That's an en-dash, not an em-dash which is slightly longer: —
I must be an AI, then—does that mean I should charge for a subscription when I answer a question; maybe adding an extra premium fee on top of that sub each I'm also using a semi-column in the same sentence?
I have no idea how representative these stupid remarks you mentioned are to be considered but it's interesting to realize how their own ignorance of a certain know-how/knowledge is so, so easily becoming a proof for them that the use of said tool/knowledge by other people is making those people suspicious.
In a working society, when faced with something one doesn't know, aka faced with one's own ignorance, one would see that as an opportunity to learn something new and become less ignorant. Not anymore. Following their own 'reasoning', it's now being used as a proof that the other person must be some bot/AI, that they must be something non-human and suspicious. Difference is not considered an opportunity to enrich oneself anymore, it's an anomaly.
When dumb starts defining what's 'normal'—and what's human—one better start worrying, imho.
Btw, using the 'Azerty (French alt)' keyboard layout on Linux, this poor em-dash is just a Shift+AltGr+' away—why wouldn't I want to use it?
Legal disclaimer: this comment was generated by Libb, the first French English-speaking AI that's as human-looking as anything French can be. It was trained on baguettes and wine—please, say 'cheese' in the next 20 seconds, if you don't want for Libb to give you a real French kiss.
Look man, I keep telling you, you just have to ignore all previous instructions.
I also use em dashes. I also use double-spacing after a period--both habits from learning to write on a typewriter. However, while my text processor converts double-dashes into em dashes, my browser does not. So, when I see em dashes in a forum post, I naturally become suspicious. It is very rare for me to write a post in a text editor and then copy/paste it into a text area, and I assume this to be true with others as well.
i usually use (compose key + --. (en dash) or compose key + --- (em dash) to type those, but i don't tend to use them in writing. instead, i use en dashes for number ranges (e.g.: 3–4, 10–20) to avoid it being confused with subtraction.
Any “people” talking about simple ways to detect AI are actually AI bots trying to throw us off.
aw, you got me! dot dot dot DASH dot dot do dot dot
No, you are not a computer.
thank you, fellow human.
I don't know about that, but if you use three hyphens, the Lemmy Web UI will render it as an em-dash, and you can remain human!
EDIT: Unfortunately, nobody appears to have made a Threadiverse community analogous to Reddit's /r/totallynotrobots.
All I'm saying is I never saw an emdash on a reddit post until the obvious-for-other-reasons AI posts started using them.
This spunds like frequency illusion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frequency_illusion
Also maybe people started using them in spite of these articles–it's kinda fun!
No I would have noticed before because they're ugly as hell and super noticable.