I’m so grateful Brian Phillips wrote this article. There have been moments recently that I’ve avoided em dashes knowing how people fixate on them as proof of AI slop. But they’re just so useful and deserve rescue from the ire of the internet brigade.
It would be a tragedy if writers stopped using em dashes out of fear of sounding like AI, because em dashes are one of the best tools writers have for not sounding robotic in the first place. Their very potential to be irritating is a sign of what makes them so beautiful: Of all the forms of punctuation, the em dash is the one that most rewards tact, judgment, and taste.
Stop AI-Shaming Our Precious, Kindly Em Dashes—Please | The Ringer