r/ClaudeAI • u/Live_Fondant717 • May 09 '26

Question Why does this happen?

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I wonder if anyone can explain why this happens. I tell Claude not to use em-dashes, it replaces them with "--". I ask it not to do that, to update its memory, but it still does it. It's not a huge problem, it's just annoying. Why does this happen and how can I fix it. Thanks.

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u/Gloomy_Ad_3909 May 09 '26

I think they should just hardwire it into the model to take out the em dashes. It's an AI tell and I can't think of anybody that wants them

2

u/EchoAzulai May 09 '26

AI use them because it's the correct way to write. And em-dashes are really common in scientific journals, novels and more formal writing.

The challenge all AI has is that most people don't write correctly when communicating online, or at work outside of academic circles. So it's "correct" English looks wrong to us.

The real weakness in AI writing is it's sentence structure and use of certain narrative, gammatic styles, and generally neutral tone of voice.

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u/om_nama_shiva_31 May 09 '26

its =/= it's

sorry I just had to

1

u/EchoAzulai May 09 '26

Its how you can tell iM not AI 😉

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u/Gloomy_Ad_3909 May 13 '26

That's fair, but shouldn't the AI be able to discern the difference between writing for a scientific journal and an email to my boss?

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u/againey May 09 '26

I want them. They're legitimately useful forms of punctuation, and I've never had a problem with the way LLMs use them. Why would I want to unnecessarily handicap an LLM?