My feeling is that my writing doesn't sound anything like an LLM, so if someone thinks I'm an LLM because I used an em-dash, that's on them. That, or I royally screwed up and need to do a better job as a writer. At least with today's LLMs.

What is the typical motivation to start using em-dashes?

Why go the extra way to have a slightly elongated dash when a normal one would just as well do the job?

I might be conpletely off here but I've never seen a situation where using a normal dash where a long one should be causes any sort of syntactic trouble.

They're just so handy! I do think LLMs tend to use them in a specific way, though.

So maybe tweaking your usage (ex. no spaces around them) or using a technically incorrect en-dash might offer the desired effect while subtly signaling that your message isn't AI-generated.

I still use them — mostly for pauses — but I'd like to think my voice sounds distinct enough from an AI that people can tell.

It’s fine to use em-dashes — just be srre to add typos.

I now use "ASCII em-dashes" by using two hyphens -- like this. Or--if you prefer no spaces--like this.

Code switching in the post LLM era.

let’s market it as “human dash”

And if it ever catches on with LLMs ⸻⸻ we just make it longer