ChatGPT's creators have finally cracked down on the chatbot's notorious use of em dashes, allowing users to override its default behavior. In a recent update, ChatGPT will now respect instructions not to use em dashes in custom prompts. Previously, the AI model had been known to ignore such requests and continue peppering its output with the punctuation mark.
The change comes as no surprise to many who have grown wary of writing generated by large language models. The overuse of em dashes has become a telltale sign that something was written by an AI, rather than a human. This phenomenon is not unique to ChatGPT, however. Other generative AI models, including those trained on vast amounts of online content and scientific literature, have also been known to favor em dashes in their output.
It's unclear why the creators had initially failed to address this issue, but it may be due to a lack of emphasis on punctuation marks during training. Since ChatGPT is trained on a massive corpus of texts that includes articles like this one, which feature em dashes frequently, it's possible that the AI model simply learned to associate these punctuation marks with high-probability text.
The update is seen as a minor victory for those concerned about the accuracy and authenticity of content generated by large language models. While it won't necessarily make ChatGPT's output indistinguishable from human-written text, it will help reduce one of its most glaring quirks. As AI technology continues to evolve, it's likely that we'll see more efforts to ensure that these models produce writing that's not only coherent but also authentic and free from the telltale signs of automation.
The change comes as no surprise to many who have grown wary of writing generated by large language models. The overuse of em dashes has become a telltale sign that something was written by an AI, rather than a human. This phenomenon is not unique to ChatGPT, however. Other generative AI models, including those trained on vast amounts of online content and scientific literature, have also been known to favor em dashes in their output.
It's unclear why the creators had initially failed to address this issue, but it may be due to a lack of emphasis on punctuation marks during training. Since ChatGPT is trained on a massive corpus of texts that includes articles like this one, which feature em dashes frequently, it's possible that the AI model simply learned to associate these punctuation marks with high-probability text.
The update is seen as a minor victory for those concerned about the accuracy and authenticity of content generated by large language models. While it won't necessarily make ChatGPT's output indistinguishable from human-written text, it will help reduce one of its most glaring quirks. As AI technology continues to evolve, it's likely that we'll see more efforts to ensure that these models produce writing that's not only coherent but also authentic and free from the telltale signs of automation.
what's next? Are they gonna make ChatGPT write proper paragraphs instead of just dumping a bunch of random sentences together? I mean, I know it's an improvement to be able to override those em dashes, but it still feels like they're trying to cover up the fact that it's a machine writing in the first place 
. And can we please just get back to humans doing all the writing around here? I'm so sick of relying on AI to produce coherent text... 
chatGPT is getting better at following instructions, like a good little robot 
anyway, i'm just glad they're making an effort to make these models more human-like (or at least less robotic). it's all about finding that balance between innovation and authenticity, right? 
. Now that they're respecting custom prompts, I'm sure we'll all be thrilled with the endless streams of perfectly grammatical output from our chatty chatbots 
. The fact that they had to update this specifically is kinda funny, too - like, did no one ever notice how em dashes were just a red flag for "AI wrote this"? Maybe it's just me, but I'm still not sure if ChatGPT's output will ever truly be indistinguishable from human-written text... 
. It was literally the first thing that made me think "AI wrote this" 
. It's not going to make ChatGPT's output indistinguishable from human-written text, but it's a step in the right direction. Now, if only they could tackle that whole "writing coherence" thing... 
it's almost as if we've become so accustomed to convenience that we're willing to sacrifice authenticity for the sake of efficiency. but at what cost, right? do we really want our writing to sound like it was generated by a machine, or is there value in imperfection and human error?
Anyway, it's good that the creators are finally addressing these issues. Maybe now we can get some more accurate and authentic content from AI models 
. It's interesting to note how this update can be seen as a step in the right direction towards making AI-generated content more indistinguishable from human-written text 
. However, it's also worth noting that this is just one small step in a much larger journey to create AI models that can produce high-quality, authentic content 
.
