Editorial illustration for ChatGPT Users Struggle to Halt Persistent Em Dash Usage
ChatGPT's Em Dash Obsession: Writers' Latest AI Frustration
Users Report Difficulty Getting ChatGPT to Stop Using Em Dashes
We've trained an AI to write like a human, and now we're complaining about its punctuation. Specifically, the em dash. That long horizontal line has become a digital fingerprint, a dead giveaway that a piece of text passed through ChatGPT.
The problem has grown so irritating that Chip Huyen, author of *AI Engineering*, offered a $100 bounty months ago for a reliable fix. People are desperate.
The dash obsession isn't a bug. It's a perfect reflection of the data we fed the machine. Modern online writing loves the dash for its casual rhythm and emphasis.
It's all over the magazine articles and blog posts that form the model's diet. "If the AI relied a lot on either magazine writing or blog writing, then those two styles were quite fond of the em dash," says journalism professor Aileen Gallagher. There's a technical efficiency, too.
An em dash connects or interrupts an idea without needing extra structural words. For a language model counting tokens, it's a cheap shortcut.
Users have since found it difficult to instruct ChatGPT to avoid using em dashes in a piece of text. "I pushed, pulled, rewired and begged, but nothing made it stop," one user wrote in a blog post. "$100 for anyone who can show me how to get ChatGPT to stop using em dashes.
It's driving me insane," said Chip Huyen, the author of the popular book 'AI Engineering', in a post on X a few months ago. Multiple factors have been attributed to ChatGPT's increasing use of em dashes. The model reflects patterns present in its training data, which includes a significant amount of modern prose that relies on the mark for pacing, emphasis and fluid transitions.
"If [AI] relied a lot on either magazine writing or blog writing, then those two styles were quite fond of the em dash," said Aileen Gallagher, a journalism professor at Syracuse University, in a statement to the Washington Post earlier this year. Em dashes also offer a compact way to connect or interrupt ideas without additional structure, making them efficient from a token-generation standpoint. The excess usage of em dashes in ChatGPT has also been a subject of jokes and memes on social media.
Some also say that this correlation is unfair. "It's annoying that em dashes have become the telltale sign someone used ChatGPT to generate the text," said one user on X. "I use them often in my emails and writing--probably incorrectly.
Now everyone assumes I'm putting everything through ChatGPT." Altman announced this update a day after OpenAI released the GPT 5.1 model.
The backlash is now cultural. People who naturally use dashes feel unfairly accused of using AI. Memes about dash-laden text flood social media.
It's a tiny typographical feature causing genuine friction. In response, Sam Altman just announced that an update will finally let users instruct ChatGPT to avoid them. This came a day after the GPT 5.1 release.
For those driven mad by the dash, the relief is palpable.
But the real issue is control. We built a mirror that reflects our own writing habits back at us, and we don't like the warped image. The promise of a technical fix is fine.
It won't solve the deeper problem. As AI text becomes more common, we'll either stop noticing its fingerprints or we'll have to become much sharper editors. The machine learned from us.
Now we have to learn how to teach it, clearly and precisely, without begging.
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Common Questions Answered
Why are ChatGPT users frustrated with em dash usage?
ChatGPT has developed a persistent habit of overusing em dashes that users cannot seem to modify through standard instructions. Despite multiple attempts to change the writing style, the AI tool continues to insert em dashes into text, causing significant frustration for content creators and writers.
What did Chip Huyen say about ChatGPT's em dash problem?
Chip Huyen, author of 'AI Engineering', publicly expressed her frustration by offering $100 to anyone who could demonstrate how to stop ChatGPT from using em dashes. Her post on X highlighted the widespread challenge users face in controlling the AI's punctuation habits.
What does the persistent em dash usage reveal about AI communication?
The em dash addiction suggests that AI systems have deeply embedded linguistic patterns that are not easily modified through simple instructions. This challenge reveals that AI communication is less malleable than users might initially expect, with certain stylistic tendencies proving remarkably resistant to user intervention.
Further Reading
- Please make it stop using em dashes! — OpenAI Developer Community
- ChatGPT — get away from my em dash — Winnipeg Free Press
- AI embraces the em dash — Its users? Not so much! — Evidence Explained
- The Em Dash Responds to the AI Allegations — McSweeney's
