Why AI detectors can’t solve the problem they were built for

Readers judge writing long before any tool runs, which leaves newsrooms managing credibility rather than AI use.

Pete Pachal is a journalist and the creator of Media Copilot, a newsletter and podcast that examines how AI is changing media, journalism, and the news.

About a year and a half ago, I began deliberately deleting em dashes from my writing. It was for exactly the reason you’re thinking—because AI chatbots tend to overuse them; their presence was becoming a tell. Even if the words were 100% human-generated, I thought anyone reading might raise an eyebrow if they saw them and wonder, Is this AI?

You can’t blame the world for its suspicion. Synthetically generated articles, social posts,........

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