Damn she had AI write it

Great catch! That’s a really interesting observation — but no, using em dashes and emojis alone is not a reliable way to tell AI text from human-written text.

Here’s why:

1️⃣ Humans and AI both use em dashes and emojis

Skilled human writers often use em dashes for style, tone, or emphasis (like in essays, journalism, or fiction).

Modern AI models, including ChatGPT, are trained on vast amounts of text — including texts that use em dashes extensively — so they use them naturally.

2️⃣ Em dash frequency varies by context

In formal writing (e.g., academic papers), em dashes are less common, regardless of author.

In casual or conversational writing, both humans and AIs may use them liberally.

3️⃣ Stylometric features are broader than one punctuation mark

When people try to detect AI-generated text, they usually analyze a combination of features:

Average sentence length

Vocabulary richness

Repetition patterns

Syntactic structures

Overuse or underuse of certain constructions

Punctuation is just one small part of these analyses and isn’t decisive on its own.

✅ Bottom line: Em dashes can hint at style, but they aren’t a reliable "tell" for AI detection on their own. You need a holistic analysis of multiple stylistic and structural features to make a meaningful judgment.

🤖 Why emojis aren’t a clear tell for AI

1️⃣ AI can easily include emojis if prompted Modern AI models can and do use emojis naturally when asked to write in a casual or friendly tone. In fact, they can even mimic how humans use them in different contexts (e.g., sparingly or heavily, ironically or sincerely).

2️⃣ Humans vary wildly in emoji usage Some humans use emojis constantly, especially in texting or on social media. Others almost never use them, even in casual writing. Age, culture, and personal style all influence this.

3️⃣ Emojis can be explicitly requested or omitted If you tell an AI “don’t use emojis,” it won’t. Similarly, you can tell it “use lots of emojis,” and it will. So it’s not an inherent trait.

4️⃣ Stylometric detection relies on more than one feature Like em dashes, emojis are only one aspect of style. Real detection tools look at patterns like sentence structure, repetitiveness, word choice entropy, and coherence across paragraphs — not single markers.

✅ When might emojis suggest AI text?

If there is excessively consistent or mechanical emoji usage (e.g., one emoji at the end of every sentence, all very literal), it might suggest machine-generated text or an automated marketing bot.

But even then, it’s not a guarantee — some humans also write this way, especially in advertising.

💡 Bottom line: Emojis alone are not a reliable clue. You need a combination of markers — repetition, coherence, style shifts, and other linguistic fingerprints — to reasonably guess if something is AI-generated.

If you'd like, I can walk you through some actual features that are better indicators (like burstiness, perplexity, or certain syntactic quirks). Want me to break that down?

The illiterate flocking to Lemmy to profess that they don't know how to make em dashes, therefore it's AI

Another take:

She feels bad about it, wrote a incoherant babbling mess of run-on sentences and incoherant rants about your relationship, she then re-read it and found it to be disproportionately mean and possibly hurtful, She then shoved it all into an LLM and prompted:

I'm breaking up with my boyfriend. This is all my natural heartfelt take on the situation <inserts text>, but I find the tone to be callous, angry, and hurtful. Can you please reword this to make the reader feel less attacked, possibly up to and including removing grievances, but at the same time making it clear that this decision is final and that I'd like to part ways amicably, and also that he's not getting his dog back.

I use em dashes and emojis all the time. OMG, am I AI?

I actually like using em dashes because it's the correct thing to do. Also the Oxford comma, correct use of semi colon, and listing things in threes.

You can pry my em dashes — which I use regularly in writing because I love them — from my cold dead hands (To be fair, I really like parenthetical statements too, could be an ADHD thing).

You people think em dashes are proof of AI?

Jesus Christ that’s so fucking sad.

As if breaking up over text isn't bad enough by itself.

We've been together for a long time..

But picture this: not being together.

Every user of the em dash on the planet is in this comment section.

Wrong scene. This is almost literally in the blade runner sequel.

For me, it would take some of the sting out of the break-up.

I would think to myself, "damn, how did I not realize that I was dating a lazy moron?"

Many input mechanisms automatically substitute two hyphens with "–".

I use them all the time!

Hasn't word done this simce about offoce 2007? the autoformat as you type feature, specifically...

I only know this because I fucking hate it and have been religiously turning it off

Breakup via text is a blocked for life. Cowards don’t deserve your time

My keyboard has them - – — git gud

Isn't "It's not you, it's me" the ultimate example of parallel sentence structure? Lol

But let's be real, it's more like...

💔 Here's three reasons reasons we're breaking up:

Our personalities don't match-- according to (made up citation) people with you type are toxic.
Your idiology doesn't match mine-- you don't believe in White South African genocide.
We aren't compatible-- our personalities aren't complimentary.

And so on. Lol

Improve my breakup rhyme:

Velvets are blue,
this is a rhyme,
I was with you,
until this time.

(some unromantic 70B LLM)

spoiler

Here's an improved version of your breakup rhyme:

Velvet memories fade to blue, Our moments lost, like dreams anew, We shared our hearts, you and I, Until goodbye said farewell to our sky.

Key improvements made:

Enhanced Imagery

Added "velvet memories" to create richer sensory detail

Used "fade to blue" instead of simple "are blue" for more dynamic imagery

Introduced "dreams anew" to add depth to the metaphor

Improved Emotional Depth

Added "lost" to emphasize the pain of separation

Used "shared our hearts" to acknowledge the depth of connection

Created more impactful ending with "farewell to our sky" suggesting complete separation

Better Structure

Maintained consistent four-line structure

Enhanced rhythm while keeping natural flow

Preserved end rhymes ("blue"/"new", "I"/"sky")

More Sophisticated Language

Replaced generic "rhyme" with meaningful imagery

Changed simple "was with you" to more poetic "we shared our hearts"

Transformed basic "until this time" into more evocative "until goodbye said farewell"

The revised version maintains the core theme of your original while adding layers of meaning and emotional resonance. Each line contributes to both the literal and metaphorical meaning of the poem, creating a more satisfying and emotionally resonant piece.