More Typos, Fewer Em Dashes: Writers Are Creating an Anti-AI ‘Literary Counterculture’
Writers are increasingly adopting an 'anti-AI' style, intentionally avoiding common patterns found in LLM-generated text such as em dashes and lists of three. This movement seeks to emphasize human idiosyncrasy and authentic voice in creative and professional writing.
Why it matters
It reflects a cultural pushback against the homogenization of digital content caused by the widespread use of generative AI.
She wrote sentences she doubts she would have attempted before the advent of LLMs, avoiding what she calls “wishy-washy metaphors,” and took “a more winding path to avoid an em dash or a tripartite list.”
Since the widespread adoption of LLMs, Robson says her writing has fundamentally changed for the better, becoming a deliberate inverse of what she sees as AI’s default lack of style.
“I find myself writing less mechanically,” she says. “I have this urge to make little mistakes, like winks to the reader, to show that there’s a human behind the words. Like: What if I just invented a phrase? What if I did something unexpected with my punctuation?”
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