Don't Blame the Dash—Blame Boring Copy

Why I am Not Letting AI Ruin My Favorite Punctuation Mark

Hello Friends,

Another hot take coming your way. This one might be controversial...

There’s a post that’s been making the rounds—maybe you’ve seen it. It goes something like this: “If I see an em dash, I assume AI wrote it.”

Andrew Condon, Managing Director at Gemba, noted:

"The em dash is slowly but surely taking over LinkedIn. In my feed it feels like ChatGPT writes every other post, and largely based on a fairly generic prompt. As I said to our team today, as we all begin to use AI more in our work, we must understand that it is becoming easier to spot AI derived output."

It’s a pretty bold take. But also, in my opinion, deeply unserious.

This idea that the em dash has become a red flag for machine-generated writing has sparked all kinds of discourse. Copywriters weighing in. Brand people posting screenshots. Comment sections full of “100% this” and “nah, I disagree.”

Jenni Hill, a finance ghostwriter, panicked, and so did I:

"Wait. Are em dashes a 'dead giveaway' of AI?! My proofreader just told me to remove them from my writing because they're 'giving ChatGPT'. My world has come crumbling down. I love those guys."

Meanwhile, I’m over here rereading that sentence, thinking most of us have entirely missed the point.

No. You’re not mad at the em dash. You’re mad at bad writing.

And that’s a different issue entirely.

I’ve been using the em dash for years.

On purpose.

I like it because it sounds like how people actually talk. Not in full stops and proper clauses, but in breathy, in-between phrases—riffs, asides, soft pivots, the occasional dramatic pause.

It’s flexible. It’s human. It’s useful.

I even use it in my brand identity—Goodstory leans into that clipped, rhythmic style, and you’ve probably noticed that it serves a visual function in almost all of my imagery.

It’s intentional. It signals that the voice is conversational, a little editorial, and not stuck in formulaic "thought leadership" mode. (Also, let’s be honest, it just looks good. Sharp. Clean. Not overdesigned.)

So when I see the em dash being publicly shamed as an AI giveaway, I feel the urge to step in. Not just as a writer, but as someone who thinks about how language builds trust and makes brands feel real.

Let’s talk about the actual problem.

Yes—AI uses the em dash. Frequently. Repetitively. Weirdly.

But that’s not the em dash’s fault. That’s the fault of an algorithm trying to mimic rhythm without understanding voice.

AI overuses it because it’s trying to fake tone. And the em dash is tonal. It carries weight in a sentence. But in AI copy, it tends to show up in all the same places:

“Your business is growing fast—and you need a solution that scales.”

Or:

“We’ve got the tools—and the team—to take you further.”

These are sentences that feel like they’re squinting at you from across a WeWork. But it’s not the punctuation that’s doing it. It’s the soullessness. Like a corporate headshot with perfect teeth and dead eyes.

Real writers use tools differently.

And that’s what makes it work.

We use the em dash to create rhythm, to speed things up or break them apart. It’s punctuation that lets you pause without stopping. And when you’re writing brand copy that’s meant to sound real—not polished within an inch of its life—that kind of rhythm matters.

It’s the difference between:

“We believe in clear strategy, bold ideas, and clean execution.”

Versus:

“Strategy is essential—but it only works if you can actually execute.”

The second one sounds like a person. The em dash makes it conversational, not corporate. It also makes it yours. That’s what AI can’t fake—not yet, anyway.

So should we all be on em dash alert?

No.

We should be on flat writing alert.

If something feels off, it’s probably not because of one little punctuation mark. It’s because the tone is wrong, the cadence is clunky, or the message is missing its edge. AI still struggles to replicate real voice, especially in brand storytelling. It gets close—but not quite. The em dash just happens to be caught in the middle.

So, let’s not throw it under the bus.

Use it. Use it well. Use it with purpose. And if anyone calls you out for sounding “too AI,” you can tell them:

Actually, this was handcrafted by a human—with full control of her punctuation.

(see what I did there?)