Our dearest em dash v AI

The sleek, the elegant… em dash has been a topic of conversation for the Cusp team over the last week or so, especially as chatter around AI continues to evolve. They’re elegant, versatile, and sometimes exactly what we need to communicate a message effectively.

BUT, we’ve caught ourselves excluding them from posts and tiles just to avoid looking like AI wrote our posts.

We do use various AI tools to bounce ideas and explore different ways to structure messaging. But, when it comes to finalised copy, it’s all us. AI just isn’t quite there (yet), particularly in the nuanced industries and markets we work in (read: not B2C, not America). Messaging is still being crafted with our human brains, creativity, and strategic thinking.

After much discussion, we’ve decided to keep our em dashes in the copy where appropriate, and not exclude them just because someone might think "AI wrote the post".

We’ve made the call to be overt about this with our clients, and have invited them to make the call for themselves as to whether they’re comfortable having em dashes in their copy from time to time. So our em dash policy is tailored for each client.

What a time to be alive.

Thoughts/opinions - hello@cusp.co.nz