2 min readNew DelhiApr 7, 2026 10:06 AM IST
As artificial intelligence (AI) evolves and new tools emerge, several industries are beginning to transform. A recent viral post by economist Marshall Steinbaum has sparked a broader discussion about how AI is subtly reshaping intellectual work.
Steinbaum shared a glimpse into his day-to-day tasks on X. Rather than focusing solely on research and analysis, he said a significant portion of his time is now spent refining AI-generated text to make it sound more natural and less machine-like.
Expressing his frustration, he wrote, “I have a PhD in economics from the University of Chicago, and my main work task these days is removing em-dashes from Claude output so it’s not overly obvious.”
See the post here:
I have a PhD in economics from the University of Chicago and my main work task these days is removing em-dashes from Claude output so it’s not overly obvious.
— Marshall Steinbaum 🔥 (@Econ_Marshall) April 6, 2026
The post has since gone viral, with many professionals acknowledging similar experiences as they adapt to AI-assisted workflows.
“The annoying part of this is that you’re removing em-dashes from your work so that people who hardly ever read won’t think it’s an AI. When, in fact, if you read any non-fiction written by humans of any reputable prose style you’ll find em-dashes on the first page,” a user wrote.
“The fact that we’ve all agreed that all em-dashed sentences are AI generated is funny because now its in our subconscious to treat them as such,” another user commented.
“Listen I love the em-dash and I refuse to abandon her. Although I prefer the single em-dash followed by a comma and no spaces on either side of it,” a third user reacted.
Last week, a UK-based software engineer sparked a conversation after he turned down an interview request from an IIT-educated founder after learning that the founder had generated his outreach email with AI.
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