OpenAI Fixes Long-Standing ChatGPT Issue: Users Can Now Disable Em Dashes
Many have argued in favor of the em dash, claiming it has been a part of their writing long before language models began using it.
ISLAMABAD: OpenAI has announced a long-awaited update that finally allows ChatGPT users to instruct the AI to stop using em dashes — a punctuation mark that had become widely associated with AI-generated writing.
The frequent appearance of em dashes in academic papers, emails, customer service messages, social media posts, and promotional content led many to label it the “ChatGPT hyphen.” Writers using the punctuation mark often faced suspicion or criticism, even though the presence of an em dash is not a reliable indicator of AI involvement.
For months, users complained that ChatGPT continued to generate em dashes even when they explicitly asked it not to. The persistent issue prompted extensive feedback to the company.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman confirmed the fix in a post on X, saying: “If you tell ChatGPT not to use em dashes in your custom instructions, it finally does what it’s supposed to do.” He described the improvement as a “small-but-happy win.”
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OpenAI further clarified on Threads that the update enhances ChatGPT’s ability to avoid em dashes only if users set this preference in the custom instructions found under personalization settings. The AI will not stop using them by default, but users now have greater control over their presence in generated text.
The update marks a meaningful improvement for writers seeking more natural and customizable output from the widely used AI platform.
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