The use of these long dashes has quadrupled (that's four times as much!) in the last seven months. Some folks think this might mean that more and more of what we're reading on Reddit is written by computers, like that AI thing, ChatGPT. 🤖

This person on X (the website, used to be Twitter), @cremieuxrecueil, looked at a group called r/Entrepreneur and found that only 4 out of every 100 top posts used em dashes back in May 2024. But by December 2024, that number jumped way up to 18 out of every 100! They saw a similar jump in other business groups too, like r/startups (which has a ton of people) and r/SaaS.

This @cremieuxrecueil person even made a post calling it "The Em Dash Conspiracy" and said that ChatGPT is probably writing more of the top stuff on Reddit because of all these em dashes.

But is it AI, or just how some people write?

The idea that em dashes are a sign of AI writing has started a big argument. Some people who study language and tech are looking into it. The person who first pointed this out even linked to some info online that says AI often uses this kind of punctuation. But they don't have solid proof that it always means a computer wrote it.

Big news places like Rolling Stone and The Washington Post have even talked about this. Rolling Stone said it's just a guess right now. And some writers in the Washington Post really like using em dashes and don't think it means they're robots! ✍️

Regular people on Reddit are getting annoyed, too. Over in the r/PetPeeves group (where people talk about things that bug them), some folks who love using em dashes are saying it's frustrating that people are just assuming a computer wrote their posts. One person even got a ton of upvotes for saying they know most people don't use em dashes, but as a writer who loves them, it's annoying to be called a robot.

So, why should we care?

Well, if a lot of the advice and info in these business groups is coming from AI, it might not be as good or trustworthy as stuff written by real people with experience. These groups have millions of people trying to learn how to start and run businesses. If that advice is computer-generated, it could be a problem. ⚠️

Some studies have already shown that AI can be used to spread fake information and mess with people online. This em dash thing on Reddit could be another way that's happening.

But some people think there's another explanation. Maybe people are just starting to use em dashes more because they've seen AI writing use them. It could be like a trend that's catching on. ️

Even though a lot of people are now trying to figure out if something was written by AI (a news site even said searches for "em dashes" are way up!), scientists haven't proven that certain punctuation marks always mean a computer wrote it. So, for now, we're kind of in the dark about who or what is writing more and more on Reddit.

Basically:

Lots more long dashes (em dashes) are showing up in popular Reddit groups about business.
Some people think it's a sign that AI like ChatGPT is writing these posts.
But experts and Reddit users aren't sure if em dashes always mean it's AI.
If it is AI, it could mean the advice in these groups isn't as good.
It might also just be that more people are starting to use em dashes.
We don't know for sure if em dashes are a reliable way to spot AI writing yet.

Reported by FazTimes Media.

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