The Death of the Em Dash (A Casualty of the Algorithm Wars)

 

I used to love the em dash.

Not in some overwrought, writer-y way. I just appreciated its utility. The way it could pause mid-sentence, shift gears, or deliver a punchline. It was punctuation with personality. A little theatrical, sure, but in the right hands it added rhythm. Made prose feel alive.

Then the robots showed up.

Now every piece of content that crosses my desk reads like it was written by the same caffeinated AI having an anxiety attack. Sentence after sentence peppered with em dashes. Thoughts careening from clause to clause with breathless urgency. What was once a subtle tool for emphasis has become the literary equivalent of Valley Girl uptalk (every statement ending with an implied question mark?).

The giveaway isn't just frequency. It's the way AI deploys the em dash as a universal solution. Unclear transition? Em dash. Need to add information? Em dash. Want to sound conversational? You guessed it. The algorithm has learned that dashes feel informal and modern, so it sprinkles them everywhere like semantic seasoning.

This is tragic for several reasons. First, the em dash actually requires restraint. Hemingway used them sparingly. Austen deployed them with surgical precision. In skilled hands, they create genuine pauses—moments where the reader's brain catches up to the writer's intent.(see what I did there?)

But there's a bigger problem. The em dash has become a casualty of the algorithm wars. Writers who once reached for it naturally now hesitate. Will readers assume this is AI-generated? Does this sentence sound too robotic? We're self-censoring based on how we think machines write.

This is backwards. We shouldn't be avoiding good punctuation because bad algorithms overuse it. We should be writing better.

So here's my modest proposal: bring back the semicolon. Embrace the period. Remember that the comma exists for a reason. When in doubt, try one of my favorites: the ellipsis. Use the em dash when it's actually needed, not as a nervous tic.

Let the robots have their breathless, dash-heavy prose. The rest of us can write like humans again.

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Suggested Reading:

QUICK BRIEFING: Generative AI vs Agentic AI

Why Every Copywriter & Content Writer Needs an AI Usage Policy 

The Adolescence of Technology

Generative AI: TO BE (a tool) OR NOT TO BE (a tool)?

Don't Let AI Kill Your Analog Intelligence

Creativity Is Not a Service

Creativity isn’t something you order off a menu.

It’s not a delivery. It’s not an invoice line item.

It’s a partnership. A provocation. A search for what hasn’t been said or seen yet.

If clients could brief exactly what they needed, they wouldn’t need us. They’d write the headline, design the platform, and move on.

But the brief isn’t the answer. It’s not even the question.

Our job isn’t to nod politely and check boxes. It’s to challenge the brief. To ask the uncomfortable questions. To dig until we uncover what’s really at stake.

The best creative leaders don’t ask, “What do you want?” They ask, “What are we trying to shift?” The culture? The category? The assumption that things can only be done one way?

This might sound like arrogance, but it's responsibility. Because if we only ever deliver what’s asked for, we’ve already failed.

Creativity should ignite. It should stretch the conversation, not simply decorate it. It should move people ... sometimes in ways that feel risky, sometimes in ways that feel uncomfortably new.

That’s how you know it’s alive.

Split Personality

 

Some days I’m the copywriter. Other days I’m the marketer selling the copywriter.

And most days they’re both a pain in the ass.

Because freelancing’s a split personality gig. Half of you is busy crafting killer lines for clients. The other half is trying to convince the world you’re worth paying for them.

Too much copywriter, and you’re broke with beautiful work. Too much marketer, and you’re loud with nothing to show.

The sweet spot? That razor-thin middle where you sell yourself just enough to keep writing the stuff that sells everything else.

“Is AI gonna take our jobs?”

 

That’s the wrong question.

It’s like standing in front of a Ferrari asking if it’s going to replace your bicycle. Technically, sure … but aren’t you at least a little curious what happens if you learn to drive?

The center of gravity just moved: According to McKinsey’s latest research, today’s tech could already automate 57% of U.S. work hours. That’s half your to-do list. Gone. Vaporized.

But the headline isn’t the automation.

The headline is this:

Over 70% of the skills we use today still matter.

They’re just getting reused, remixed, and re-leveled.

AI isn’t deleting humans. It’s deleting chores. Drafting? Gone. Research? Half-gone. Data prep? Your new robot intern’s problem.

Meanwhile, human value is stampeding toward the good stuff: judgment, framing messy problems, negotiating, coaching, seeing around corners. The things no algorithm can fake without looking like a teenager wearing his dad’s suit.

Demand for AI fluency has jumped 7x in two years.

What does that mean to you? You don’t have to be a prompt-slinging wizard, but you do need to understand what this tech can do besides writing snappy emails. You need to know how to pair people with agents with robots the way great chefs pair flavors: intentionally, creatively, with a dash of fearlessness.

The $2.9 Trillion Elephant in the Room

$2.9 trillion … that’s the number leaders keep stepping around like it’s optional: Companies that rebuild entire workflows -- not just sprinkle AI like parsley -- stand to unlock $2.9 trillion a year by 2030.

But the winners won’t be the ones with the most AI.  They’ll be the ones with the best partnerships, where humans, agents, and robots don’t just coexist but compound each other’s strengths. Think co-pilot, not tool. Dance partner, not threat.

The Bottom Line

If you’re a leader waiting for the world to “settle down” so you can make a clean, rational AI strategy, I have news: the future is already jogging laps around your building. This is the moment -- right now -- to rethink roles, redraw workflows, and reskill your people.

Not because AI is coming for your jobs … but because your competitors are coming for your workflows.

And they brought robots.