ChatGPT breaks its habit! OpenAI confirms ending em dash trend

Sam Altman announces a major ChatGPT update that finally fixes em-dash formatting issues and brings smoother, cleaner writing outputs for users.
ChatGPT platform. Photo: Unsplash

OpenAI chief Sam Altman has announced ChatGPT, the widely used AI platform, can ditch the em-dashes if instructed by users.

The em dashes emerged as a trouble for many AI users since they appeared everywhere in recent months, including in school papers, emails, comments, customer service chats, LinkedIn posts, online forums and even in ad copies.

People often criticised those who used them and judged them to be lazy for using AI to do their tasks.

The chatbot could not avoid using the so-called “ChatGPT hyphen”, considered by a section of netizens as an objectionable addition to any text.

ChatGPT users were unable to stop the platform from using the em dashes, even after specifically instructing it.

Now, correcting the issue, Sam Altman wrote on X: “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!”

Recently, OpenAI announced the introduction of a new group chat feature within ChatGPT, which will help users collaborate with each other while performing a specific task.

“Today, we’re beginning to pilot a new experience in a few regions that makes it easy for people to collaborate with each other—and with ChatGPT—in the same conversation,” OpenAI said in a statement.

With group chats, users can bring friends, family, or coworkers into a shared space to plan, make decisions, or work through ideas together.