As a former journalist, the rules of using a hyphen vs. en dash vs. em dash were pretty clear.

When two words need connection, the hyphen is your go-to tool.

It's not meant to do the job of the em dash - it looks silly when humans do this using a hyphen.

Humans make this mistake all the time - most just don't know better.

But I do know.

(And let's not talk about the en dash. If your baseline human can't figure out hyphen vs. em dash, a third option makes things worse.)

So as a writer, I know the correct way to use a hyphen vs. em dash.

Unfortunately, so did AI.

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When AI started using em dashes in responses—correctly, mind you—humans saw it as "proof" of AI writing.

Today, I can't use an em dash in my professional writing, because humans now perceive that work as written by AI.

But, if I use a hyphen instead - incorrectly - this is "real human" writing. Sigh.

So thanks AI for killing the em dash—you fucked things up for competent human writers worldwide.