For years, em dashes have been seen as a hallmark of AI-generated writing, often overused in ChatGPT outputs and other chatbots. This excessive punctuation has led many to suspect AI origin based on style alone, though human writers can also overuse em dashes.

Recently, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced a notable update: ChatGPT now follows user instructions to avoid em dashes. On X, he shared, “Small-but-happy win: If you tell ChatGPT not to use em-dashes in your custom instructions, it finally does what it’s supposed to do!”

This announcement came shortly after the release of GPT-5.1, highlighting ongoing challenges in controlling language nuances within AI models. Experts note that such small improvements reflect the complexity of aligning AI behavior with human preferences. According to language specialist Dr. Jane Smith, “Punctuation control is a basic yet vital aspect of AI communication, revealing how far we still are from seamless human-AI interaction.”

While this seemingly minor achievement is encouraging, it also raises questions about the true progress toward artificial general intelligence (AGI). If fine-tuning simple formatting remains difficult, the path to fully autonomous AI may still be long.

David Nield

Dave is a freelance tech journalist with over 20 years covering gadgets, apps, and the web. From Stockport, England, he covers news, features, and reviews for TechRadar, focusing on phones, tablets, and wearables. He ensures top weekend breaking news and has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci, and others. He edited PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook for years. Read me on x.com or linkedin.