Em Dash: The New ‘Tell’
- Synergy Team
- 24m
- 4 min read
Why This Little Line Has Become the Loudest Signal in Modern Writing
The em dash is having a cultural moment. Not because teams have suddenly become obsessed with punctuation, but because this single mark has become the loudest whisper in modern workplace writing: AI probably touched this draft. At Synergy, we see it everywhere: intranet pages, leadership updates, job descriptions, internal announcements, collaboration notes, and more.
The em dash doesn’t just connect ideas; it exposes them. It reveals something about the writer, the workflow, and increasingly, the involvement of AI.
This article breaks down why the em dash now shows up so often, what it says about communication culture, and how its presence has become one of the clearest “tells” that AI played a role in the writing.
What the Em Dash Actually Is — and Why Its Appearance Often Suggests AI Was Involved
Before we can understand why the em dash has become an AI fingerprint, we need to look at the symbol itself. Most people were never taught the difference between a hyphen, an en dash, and an em dash. Even fewer know how to manually type one. That complexity is exactly why its sudden ubiquity stands out.
There are three primary dashes:
Hyphen (-): short, familiar, used for compound words
En dash (–): used for ranges
Em dash (—): the long, dramatic one almost no one types by hand
Because inserting a true em dash requires special key combinations or deliberate insert menus, heavy use of them is one of the clearest signs that AI touched the writing. Most humans simply don’t bother.
AI, on the other hand, drops them in with ease. That effortlessness is exactly why their sudden, consistent appearance has become such a reliable tell.
The Em Dash as the Emoji of Formal Writing, Supercharged by AI
It’s not just that the em dash is showing up more often: it’s the way it’s showing up that feels different.
AI tools didn’t invent the em dash by any means, but they did dramatically accelerate its spread. AI prefers it because it’s safe, versatile, and rhythmically smooth. It solves structural problems without forcing the model to commit to a clear grammatical choice.
As a result, AI-generated content often leans on the em dash as a catch-all connector between loosely related ideas.
Once AI tools started using the em dash so frequently, the pattern didn’t stay contained to the model. Humans began absorbing it. Teams reading AI-assisted content started adopting the same rhythm in their own writing, often without realizing it. The em dash became contagious — a stylistic cue that now moves back and forth between people and machines.
Why the Em Dash Has Become the Workplace Signal for “AI Touched This”
A few years ago, the em dash was considered a stylistic flourish. Today, it has become a linguistic fingerprint.
When we analyze workplace communication — anything from leadership messages to intranet updates to client drafts — clear patterns emerge. Overuse of the em dash is no longer just a matter of style. It’s now one of the strongest indicators that AI assisted in the writing.
The point of noting this isn’t to “catch” anyone. It’s simply acknowledging that writing has shifted, and the em dash is one of the most visible markers of that shift.
What Em Dash Overuse Reveals About Workflow and Culture
Beyond signaling AI involvement, heavy em dash usage can act as a diagnostic tool. Internal writing habits often mirror workflow habits. When em dashes appear everywhere, they usually point to deeper patterns.
Overuse often signals:
stream-of-consciousness drafting
rushed communication
limited structural editing
writing that blends chat culture with formal messaging
In other words, the em dash often shows up where structure is missing. AI doesn’t fix that, which is why human oversight is always important: it amplifies those issues.
The Irony: The Em Dash Makes AI Output Worse
Here’s where things get interesting: even though AI loves to generate em dashes, it struggles when it has to actually read them.
AI works best with clear segmentation, as discussed in our It’s All About The Prompt series: short sentences, defined relationships, explicit lists, and simple hierarchy all are in AI’s general wheelhouse. The em dash is intentionally ambiguous. It links ideas without defining how they relate.
When teams use it excessively in prompts, documentation, or policies, AI systems often:
merge unrelated ideas
misunderstand priority
lose contextual cues
produce less accurate results
It’s an odd contradiction: the symbol AI reaches for most often is also the one that makes its own processing less precise.
The Human Side: Why We Lean on the Em Dash
Beyond its connection to AI, the em dash has a very human purpose. People use punctuation to shape tone, add nuance, and soften meaning — especially in hybrid workplaces where most communication happens through text instead of voice.
The em dash softens statements. It adds nuance. It creates breathing room between ideas. In workplaces where tone matters, it becomes the punctuation equivalent of taking a moment before continuing. AI learned all this from humans, and now humans are absorbing AI’s exaggerated version of it.
Should You Stop Using the Em Dash?
Of course not — just use it intentionally. The point of this article isn’t to ban the em dash. It can be a useful, elegant tool when used thoughtfully. The goal of this piece is awareness, not restriction.
Use the em dash when:
you want a natural pause
you’re adding a brief aside
you need gentle nuance
Avoid it when:
structure matters
clarity is critical
information will be fed into AI systems
you want writing to feel unmistakably human
Intentional writing leads to intentional communication, which ultimately leads to better outcomes for the organization.
Final Thoughts
The em dash may be small, but its sudden visibility says a lot about how workplace writing is evolving. Its rise reflects the mix of human habits, AI influence, and the pace at which teams now produce and refine their ideas. The pattern isn’t something to police — it’s simply a window into how communication shifts in environments shaped by both people and technology.
Paying attention to these patterns helps organizations stay clear, intentional, and aligned in how they write and collaborate. If your team is exploring how to communicate more effectively or how AI fits into your workflow, we’re here to help.
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