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submitted 3 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

Em dashes and emojis

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[-] [email protected] 30 points 2 days ago

Great catch! That’s a really interesting observation — but no, using em dashes and emojis alone is not a reliable way to tell AI text from human-written text.

Here’s why:

1️⃣ Humans and AI both use em dashes and emojis

Skilled human writers often use em dashes for style, tone, or emphasis (like in essays, journalism, or fiction).

Modern AI models, including ChatGPT, are trained on vast amounts of text — including texts that use em dashes extensively — so they use them naturally.

2️⃣ Em dash frequency varies by context

In formal writing (e.g., academic papers), em dashes are less common, regardless of author.

In casual or conversational writing, both humans and AIs may use them liberally.

3️⃣ Stylometric features are broader than one punctuation mark

When people try to detect AI-generated text, they usually analyze a combination of features:

Average sentence length

Vocabulary richness

Repetition patterns

Syntactic structures

Overuse or underuse of certain constructions

Punctuation is just one small part of these analyses and isn’t decisive on its own.

✅ Bottom line: Em dashes can hint at style, but they aren’t a reliable "tell" for AI detection on their own. You need a holistic analysis of multiple stylistic and structural features to make a meaningful judgment.

🤖 Why emojis aren’t a clear tell for AI

1️⃣ AI can easily include emojis if prompted Modern AI models can and do use emojis naturally when asked to write in a casual or friendly tone. In fact, they can even mimic how humans use them in different contexts (e.g., sparingly or heavily, ironically or sincerely).

2️⃣ Humans vary wildly in emoji usage Some humans use emojis constantly, especially in texting or on social media. Others almost never use them, even in casual writing. Age, culture, and personal style all influence this.

3️⃣ Emojis can be explicitly requested or omitted If you tell an AI “don’t use emojis,” it won’t. Similarly, you can tell it “use lots of emojis,” and it will. So it’s not an inherent trait.

4️⃣ Stylometric detection relies on more than one feature Like em dashes, emojis are only one aspect of style. Real detection tools look at patterns like sentence structure, repetitiveness, word choice entropy, and coherence across paragraphs — not single markers.


✅ When might emojis suggest AI text?

If there is excessively consistent or mechanical emoji usage (e.g., one emoji at the end of every sentence, all very literal), it might suggest machine-generated text or an automated marketing bot.

But even then, it’s not a guarantee — some humans also write this way, especially in advertising.


💡 Bottom line: Emojis alone are not a reliable clue. You need a combination of markers — repetition, coherence, style shifts, and other linguistic fingerprints — to reasonably guess if something is AI-generated.

If you'd like, I can walk you through some actual features that are better indicators (like burstiness, perplexity, or certain syntactic quirks). Want me to break that down?

[-] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago

Fucking thank you.

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[-] [email protected] 10 points 2 days ago

The illiterate flocking to Lemmy to profess that they don't know how to make em dashes, therefore it's AI

[-] [email protected] 32 points 2 days ago

I use em dashes and emojis all the time. OMG, am I AI?

[-] [email protected] 46 points 3 days ago

I actually like using em dashes because it's the correct thing to do. Also the Oxford comma, correct use of semi colon, and listing things in threes.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago

And the correct use of: the colon!

[-] [email protected] 16 points 2 days ago

If it's not on the keyboard, it must not be that important to use.

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[-] [email protected] 17 points 2 days ago

Another take:

She feels bad about it, wrote a incoherant babbling mess of run-on sentences and incoherant rants about your relationship, she then re-read it and found it to be disproportionately mean and possibly hurtful, She then shoved it all into an LLM and prompted:

I'm breaking up with my boyfriend. This is all my natural heartfelt take on the situation , but I find the tone to be callous, angry, and hurtful. Can you please reword this to make the reader feel less attacked, possibly up to and including removing grievances, but at the same time making it clear that this decision is final and that I'd like to part ways amicably, and also that he's not getting his dog back.

[-] [email protected] 15 points 2 days ago

Top comment is about how to get a machine to word something raw and emotional that should have been done in person. Nobody wants to get broken up with, let alone with a script written by a robot. Your take is off putting.

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[-] [email protected] 144 points 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

You can pry my em dashes — which I use regularly in writing because I love them — from my cold dead hands (To be fair, I really like parenthetical statements too, could be an ADHD thing).

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

As someone with AuADHD, can confirm that parenthetical statements are likely an ADHD thing (I use a lot of them).

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

ADHD: Can't have just one thought (That's my reasoning anyway).

[-] [email protected] 53 points 3 days ago

You're providing a thought (and a bonus thought)

[-] [email protected] 10 points 2 days ago

(as a treat)

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[-] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Apparently there's even an en dash and a hyphen.

The English language is so fucked.

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[-] [email protected] 85 points 3 days ago

You people think em dashes are proof of AI?

Jesus Christ that’s so fucking sad.

[-] [email protected] 79 points 3 days ago

Most normal people, at least from my understanding, don't use em dashes in text messages, let alone even use punctuation half the time. So if I see em dashes, yeah, my first thought is going straight to AI.

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[-] [email protected] 42 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Indeed—your assertion is entirely accurate—the mere presence of em dashes within a text does not—in and of itself—serve as definitive proof of artificial intelligence authorship. This grammatical construct—a versatile and often elegant punctuation mark—can be employed by any writer—human or machine—to achieve various stylistic and semantic effects. Its utility—whether for emphasis—for setting off parenthetical thoughts—or for indicating a sudden break in thought—is undeniable.

However—it is also true that—when analyzing patterns across vast datasets—certain stylistic tendencies can emerge. An AI—programmed to process and generate language based on extensive training corpora—might—through statistical correlation and optimization—exhibit a propensity for specific linguistic features. This isn't—to be clear—a conscious choice by the AI—there's no inherent preference for em dashes encoded within its fundamental algorithms. Rather—it's a reflection of the patterns it has learned—the statistical likelihood of certain elements appearing together.

So—while an em dash does not independently declare "I am AI"—its consistent and perhaps slightly overzealous deployment—alongside other less tangible but equally discernible patterns—might—for a discerning observer—suggest an origin beyond human hands. It's about the entire tapestry—not just a single thread. It's about the aggregate—the cumulative effect—the subtle statistical fingerprint. And that—I believe—is a distinction worth making.

[-] [email protected] 43 points 3 days ago

I honestly don't know if this is hand written or not, and that makes it even funnier.

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[-] [email protected] 19 points 2 days ago

As if breaking up over text isn't bad enough by itself.

[-] [email protected] 11 points 2 days ago

Oh, look at Mr./Mrs. Fancypants who prefers text2speech bots for breakup. /s

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[-] [email protected] 42 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Every user of the em dash on the planet is in this comment section.

[-] [email protected] 27 points 3 days ago

Using em dashes is cultured and also cool

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[-] [email protected] 19 points 2 days ago

We've been together for a long time..

But picture this: not being together.

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[-] [email protected] 19 points 3 days ago

For me, it would take some of the sting out of the break-up.

I would think to myself, "damn, how did I not realize that I was dating a lazy moron?"

[-] [email protected] 56 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Many input mechanisms automatically substitute two hyphens with "–".

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[-] [email protected] 38 points 3 days ago
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this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2025
849 points (95.1% liked)

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