While accusations of AI use are rife in the art world, until recently, only truly egregious writing faced the same charges. Inspiring LinkedIn posts with short sentence structures and phrases like, "In today's fast-paced digital landscape," were obvious slop. But now, apparently using an em dash is unacceptable — and it's enough to get you chucked into AI jail.
This week a viral X post accused Nike of using a "GPT AI-ism" in its own post promoting tennis champion Jake Sinner. Why? Because it featured an em dash of course. Cue a disapproving chorus of digital 'Shame!' chants under the post. But while there might be tricks for working out if you're talking to an AI deepfake, spotting AI generated writing is an altogether more mystical art.
they let a GPT AI-ism through on the main Nike page?? I thought marketing teams caught this stuff by nowhttps://t.co/INlebroUsfMay 17, 2026
We seem to be moving towards a bizarre cultural moment where any writing that's remotely polished, or indeed punctuated, is accused of being artificially generated. Yes, there's an obvious AI 'rhythm' to the aforementioned staccato LinkedIn posts. But surely writing doesn't only feel 'human' if it comes across as hurried and typo-ridden.
The humble em dash has become collateral damage in the war on machine writing. Suddenly, this legitimate piece of punctuation is being treated as the literary equivalent to six fingers. Never mind that authors have been using it for centuries.
But the issue exposes a wider hypocrisy within AI criticism. When it comes to art, there is at least some recognition that the models have learned from artists. People accept that AI's visual styles originate from human creativity. But while everybody's arguing that AI art styles belong to artists, nobody seems to be arguing that AI writing styles belong to writers.
Because the cadence of explanatory writing, of polished essay writing, and, yes, of irritating motivational social media posts, existed long before AI showed up. Just because writing is bad, it doesn't mean AI made it — bad writers have been around for a long time (guilty).
The paranoia has become so intense that authors are now putting disclaimers in books stating that no AI was used in the writing process. We're also seeing 'Human Authored' labels on front covers. Both of which strike me as as possibly even more dystopian than AI itself.
As a journalist, of course I understand why people, including many in my profession, are anxious. AI books are flooding marketplaces, media jobs are at risk and social media is filled with dead-eyed, synthetic writing. But surely the solution isn't declaring war on punctuation, clarity and competence.
