Let’s talk about AI giveaways

How to spot AI-generated content, and why it’s not the em dash you need to worry about

Lately, about 90% of my LinkedIn feed has been taken over by posts arguing one of two positions:

One: that you can spot AI-generated content a mile away because it’ll contain a boatload of em dashes (this thing ‘—' in case you’re not familiar).

Two: the complete opposite.  Em dashes aren’t an AI giveaway; human content writers use them all the time.

But which side is right?

The truth is it literally doesn’t matter. Genuinely. Not even a little bit. The presence, or lack of a specific grammatical quirk is completely irrelevant when it comes to spotting AI-generated content.

There’s only one real ‘giveaway’ you need to be worried about. And that’s whether it’s mind-numbingly boring or not.

The em dash debate, and other AI ‘giveaways’ that miss the point

Yes, it can definitely be said ChatGPT overuses the em dash. But that’s because it was trained on thousands of professionally written articles — and a lot of real life, human professional writers use em dashes liberally. Myself included.

Bullet points? Also not a dead giveaway. Human writers use them all the time. I’ve literally used them further down in this piece. And that was an informed choice. We were taught to write for people who skim, and bullet points help guide the reader’s eye. It’s Content Writing 101.

Even the rocket emoji, though it’s a strong contender for Most Annoying LinkedIn Trend Ever,  isn’t technically a sign that AI wrote your post. It’s just a sign we’ve all started mimicking each other’s tone and formatting online, whether we realise it or not.

The point is: you could remove every so-called “AI tell” from a piece of content — the em dashes, the Americanisms, the cringey emoji choices — and still be able to tell if AI wrote it or not based on whether it actually says anything interesting or not.  

The real AI giveaway

Recently, I asked ChatGPT to write a blog about “B2B tech.” That was the full brief. Nothing else. No goals, no target audience, no platform in mind.

What I got back was 800 words of… nothing. Technically correct? Yes. Grammatically sound? Also yes. But it was deeply bland, and full of vague, generic advice you could find within 30 seconds of Googling.

It wasn’t written for any particular type of company. It didn’t solve a specific problem. It wasn’t aligned to a service, or a funnel stage, or a business goal.

It was content for content’s sake — and that’s the real giveaway.

Because that’s what AI does when it’s left to its own devices. It trawls through what already exists and regurgitates it. It sounds a lot like everyone else. Which means the content it creates is often lifeless, soulless, and completely forgettable.

And your audience agrees. A recent study found consumers often identify AI-generated advertisements as "annoying," "boring," and "confusing," leading to a negative perception of both the ads and the associated brands.

AI isn’t doing your briefs — or your brand — justice

If your AI-assisted content isn’t working, it’s not necessarily because you’re using AI. It’s because you’re using it without a content strategy.

A good content writer would never write a blog based on a brief as vague as “something about B2B tech.” And you wouldn’t want them to. Because that kind of piece doesn’t move the needle. It doesn’t rank. It doesn’t convert. It doesn’t make your brand stand out.

But a piece designed to:

• Speak to a clearly defined audience

• Solve a specific problem they’re facing

• Fit into a wider campaign, product push, or content plan

• And reflect your tone of voice, not the internet’s default…

That’s the kind of content that gets results.

And AI can’t create that on its own — because it doesn’t know what success looks like for your business.

AI is a tool — not a strategy

None of this is to say you can’t use AI. I use it myself — to edit and proofread, to speed up research, to stress-test ideas. In the right hands, it’s a brilliant tool.

But that’s the key: the right hands.

If you’re not a content marketing expert, how do you know when AI has done a good job? If you don’t have a clear content strategy, how do you know you’re even asking it to create the right things?

You can feed ChatGPT any prompt and it’ll spit something back. But what if that prompt wasn’t worth writing in the first place? What if the format's wrong, or the audience doesn’t care, or the timing’s off?

That’s where strategy comes in.

A content writer’s job isn’t just to churn out words. It’s to challenge the brief, push back where it matters, and help you figure out what’s actually worth saying — and who needs to hear it.

Yes, AI can string a sentence together. But it can’t connect the dots between your business goals and your content. It can’t help you build trust, win attention, or create real demand for what you do.

Use AI. But don’t skip the strategy.

So, all of this to say, if your content feels underwhelming, unfocused, or just a bit dull, it’s probably not because of the em dashes. It’s because it wasn’t built on a solid strategy.

So sure, use the tools. Get a first draft down faster. Streamline your process. But if you want your content to work for your business, bring in someone who knows what good looks like — and how to get you there.

(That’s me, by the way).