text

Now that I know how fond chatbots are of the em dash — the thing I just used to convey a thought that intruded on but is connected to the main sentence — I have a confession to make.

It’s in part my fault, apparently. Watch out for the semicolon, too; I sprinkle them like salt.

I’m one of those authors whose books AI ate for lunch a few years back, making us unwitting and unwilling contributors to the chatbot writing style, if you want to call it that. At some point I might get a check to pay me for a dozen years’ work on the three books it stole, but really, there’s no way to compensate for the fallout. AI seems to think — no, it can’t think, only shuffle what real people thought — that a machine can write as well as a person can. In the process of trying, it’s compromised the very tools we use.

I taught at Columbia Journalism School for 10 years, and was surprised to learn from a second-semester student that a first-semester professor had forbidden the use of the semicolon. It was sloppy, he said. Evidence of an indecisive mind. A better writer would find a more definitive way to punctuate the space between two thoughts.

He was tenured. I was an adjunct and surprised to find myself in the classroom at all, so I did what any decent writer does and succumbed to self-doubt. I write by ear — I worshipped another adjunct who insisted that all writing was musical — only to find that someone higher up the academic ladder believed I’d been doing it wrong, forever.

Then I did the other thing any decent writer does: I defended myself. Banning the semicolon seemed rather hard-line, I said. I joked about the possibility that our conflicting attitudes were gender-based. I softened my indignation with a reference to my West Coast woo-woo roots: Everything is related to everything, hence the semicolon, even though my childhood was spent in the decent and rule-bound Midwest.

I told my students that they should try what sounded right to them as long as they didn’t sacrifice clarity. There are lots of melodies out there.

But back to em dashes. I’ve just finished writing a book that’s as full of them as the other books I’ve written over 40-plus years, so I’m stymied by what to do next, because it seems my writing style now invites suspicion. I could go back through 63,000 words and change the em dashes to I don’t know what. Periods. Commas, which lose the half-beat hesitation a semicolon provides — and might splice together two independent clauses. Or colons, which are too emphatic. Or I could run a disclaimer on the title page: No AI programs were used in the creation of this book.

That, of course, puts me at greater risk. “The lady doth protest too much”: Some readers will assume that I did, in fact, collaborate with a machine.

Maybe we need a certification office whose logo would sit right above the publisher’s on a book’s spine, so that anyone who still bought books could tell at a glance if a human being consumed too much coffee and developed turtleneck in the service of storytelling. Even as I type, paranoia reaches out to tap me on the shoulder. Who’s certifying the certifiers to make sure they aren’t letting ChatGPT do the analysis?

By the way, the Copilot feature on Word, which I cannot turn off no matter what I try, just butted in to highlight “at a glance.” Readers would be better served, I’m told, if I used “briefly” or “immediately,” neither of which is exactly what I meant.

I worked with a magazine editor, in the very long ago, who seemed really to enjoy his work, particularly the part about choosing exactly the right word. We’d go through the almost-final draft, paragraph by paragraph, to address passages or even single words he felt were not quite right. I’d suggest a change or two and then surrender to insecurity, because this was early in the game for me, and I had a small case of impostor syndrome. Clearly he had the right word in mind, and whatever it was was OK with me.

His answer was always the same. This is your piece, he’d say, and I know you can come up with it. He’d repeat the point he thought I was trying to make, and I’d suggest a few more options until I hit the right one.

I’ve been grateful to him ever since, although now I hold him partly responsible for my willingness to use em dashes and semicolons.

When I found out about my Columbia colleague’s ban on semicolons, I checked a few books by favorite authors of mine and — lo and behold — found em dashes and semicolons galore and felt redeemed. Yes, I use them too often, and yes, I’ve occasionally done a punctuation reread to see if some of them are superfluous. I left all of them in this essay on purpose, so that commenters can complain about how many I use or accuse me of being a front for ChatGPT.

I’m not saying everyone needs to write without AI assistance. I’ve read about job seekers who use AI to thwart AI applicant-screening systems and am all for it, but that’s about survival tactics, not self-expression. I am saying we ought to value the human voice the way we value any other natural resource, and be wary of pretenders. But em dashes don’t prove that software wrote something. Affectless language, the lack of anything like a writer’s idiosyncratic style, is the dead giveaway that nobody’s home. Writing that’s as boring as your dullest relative was likely written by a chatbot that can’t see, hear, taste, smell, touch — or feel. Settle for that and we’re all the poorer for it.

Karen Stabiner is the author, most recently, of “Generation Chef: Risking It All for a New American Dream.”

ROBBIE Williams has revealed the heartbreaking text he received from his actress daughter Teddy at 2am.

Robbie, 51, who shares 13-year-old Teddy with his wife Ayda Field, has opened about his teenager’s torment over the future.

Teddy is following her dad into the world of showbiz, and has already started making waves as an actress, which includes starring in a Hollywood movie.

However, now the teen has set her sights on being a singer, just like her dad Robbie.

Teddy’s famous father has had huge success after starting out in boyband Take That, and then going onto sell hundreds of millions of records worldwide as a solo artist.

But Robbie has revealed that his teenage daughter has put tremendous pressure on herself to follow in his footsteps and achieve the same kind of success as a singer.

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Opening up to Scott Mills on Radio 2, he talked about Teddy’s dream of becoming famous like him.

“Ted in particular is so desperate for it,” Robbie revealed.

“Now, when I was growing up in Stoke-on Trent, I was also incredibly desperate for it, whatever it was, you know, watching Top Of The Pops on Thursday and thinking, how the hell do I get in that box in the corner of this room and be one of those people?

“But I’ve never seen it so acute as I do with Ted. She sent me a text the other day. And it goes, let me get this.

“It says – this was Thursday, six minutes past two in the morning, ‘Dad, what if I’m not a singer? It’s my biggest fear not to be a singer.’ Biggest capital letters. ‘What if I’m nothing?’”

Robbie then jokingly added: “And I was like, ‘babe, you’re a nepo. You’ll be fine!’”

Turning serious again, the star said: “The only thing that worries me about it is, she’s incredibly sensitive. I am painfully, painfully sensitive.

“In some quarters it would be deemed as being oversensitive. She is worse than me. And I’m worried about what words will do to her.

“For me, it was either this or stacking shelves at ASDA – so this, every single day and for Ted, she’s got options.”

MOVIE DEBUT

Robbie’s daughter Teddy recently made her acting debut in Rebel Wilson and Danny Dyer film, Tinsel Town.

The Christmas movie features Teddy as the daughter of actress Rebel’s character Jill.

The teenager was seen at the premiere of the movie in November with her proud parents.

The teenager was all smiles as she stepped out on the red carpet with dad Robbie and mum Ayda.

It was revealed last February that Teddy was making her movie debut in Tinsel Town after being spotted filming alongside Rebel and Danny.

A source told The Sun at the time: “Teddy was born to be a star – after all, her parents are both the ultimate performers.

“Robbie and Ayda have been keen to keep her out of the spotlight for as long as possible though – obscuring her face on social media etc – so this is all very much being driven by Teddy who’s wanted to be on stage since she was old enough to talk!

“It’s a small part but obviously is super-exciting, and everyone is really proud of her.

“She’s an absolutely lovely girl on and off screen, and has fitted in seamlessly into on-set life.”

As well as Teddy, Robbie and Ayda are also parents to children Charlton (Charlie), Colette (Coco) and Beau.

The high-profile couple have consciously kept their children away from the public eye for most of their lives.

Loose Women panellist Ayda previously said: “We never show their faces, it’s really important to us.

“We’re really proud and we want to share absolutely everything but there’s a law in this country that means they can’t put pictures up of kids in the papers unless you’re posting their faces.”

The comments come as the Kremlin slammed a plan for France and the UK to send peacekeepers to Ukraine after a ceasefire.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said an agreement on a security guarantee from Washington is now “essentially ready” to be finalised by US President Donald Trump, following days of negotiations in Paris.

In a post on X on Thursday, Zelenskyy said the document – a cornerstone of any settlement to end the war, which would guarantee Washington and other Western allies would support Ukraine if Russia invaded again – was almost complete.

“The bilateral document on security guarantees for Ukraine ‍is now essentially ⁠ready for finalisation at the highest level with the president,” he said.

He said the talks in Paris, involving teams from the US and Europe, had addressed “complex issues” from the framework under discussion to end the nearly four-year war, with the Ukrainian delegation presenting possible solutions for these.

“We understand that the American side will engage with Russia, and we expect feedback on whether the aggressor is genuinely willing to end the war,” he said.

Washington, which on Tuesday endorsed the idea of providing security guarantees for Ukraine for the first time, is expected to present any agreement it reaches with Kyiv to Moscow, in its attempt to broker an end to the conflict.

Kyiv says legally-binding assurances that its allies would come to its defence are essential to deter Moscow from future aggression if a ceasefire is reached.

But specific details on the guarantees and how Ukraine’s allies would respond have not been made public.

Zelenskyy said earlier this week that he was yet to receive an “unequivocal” answer about what they would do if Russia did attack again.

Russia slams peacekeeper plan

Zelenskyy’s comments came as Russia rejected a plan that emerged from the Paris talks for European peacekeepers to be deployed to Ukraine as “militaristic”, warning they would be treated as “legitimate military targets”.

On Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer signed a declaration of intent with Zelenskyy in Paris, setting out the framework for troops from their countries to be deployed to Ukraine after a ceasefire was reached with Russia.

But in Russia’s first comments in response to the plan, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova denounced the proposal as “dangerous” and “destructive”, dampening hopes the plan could prove a step in bringing the war to an end.

“The new militarist declarations of the so-called Coalition of the Willing and the Kyiv regime together form a genuine ‘axis of war’,” Zakharova said in a statement.

“All such units and facilities will be considered legitimate military targets for the Russian Armed Forces,” she said, repeating a threat previously made by Putin.

Moscow has repeatedly warned that it would not accept any NATO members sending peacekeeping troops to Ukraine.

Russia attacks energy infrastructure

In his social media post, Zelenskyy also called for more pressure on Russia from Ukraine’s supporters, after further Russian missile attacks on energy infrastructure, which, he said, “clearly don’t indicate that Moscow is reconsidering its priorities”.

“In this context, it is necessary that pressure on Russia continues to increase at the same intensity as the work of our negotiating teams.”

The attacks left Ukrainian authorities scrambling to restore heating and water to hundreds of thousands of households in the Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhia regions.

“This is truly a national level emergency,” Borys Filatov, mayor of Dnipropetrovsk’s capital Dnipro, said on Telegram.

He announced power was “gradually returning to the hospitals” after the blackouts forced them to run on generators. The city authorities also extended school holidays for children.

About 600,000 households in the region remained cut off from power in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukrainian energy company DTEK said.

An actor who appeared in Tyler Perry’s “Boo! A Madea Halloween” allegedly confided in the media mogul about health concerns and financial woes months before filing a $77-million sexual assault lawsuit against the billionaire actor-director last week.

The actor, identified in court documents as Mario Rodriguez, sued Perry on Thursday for sexual assault and sexual battery in connection to multiple alleged encounters from 2015 and 2019. The 23-page civil complaint, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, claims that Rodriguez cut off contact with Perry in 2019 and that through 2024 the director “would randomly reach out to Mr. Rodriguez.”

Screenshots of text messages, obtained by several outlets including the Associated Press, seem to show otherwise.

Rodriguez initiated text conversations with Perry as recently as August of this year. In a statement Monday, Rodriguez said “people are pointing to messages where I was polite, grateful, or vulnerable — and trying to use that to discredit me.”

“Survivors often stay cordial. They often ask for help when they feel desperate,” he added. “That does not mean abuse didn’t happen. Those text messages were sent to Perry at a time when I was especially vulnerable as can be seen from the context.”

The Associated Press reported Monday that Rodriguez expressed gratitude to Perry in a message sent during Thanksgiving 2024. “Just know that I love you and I thank you for everything, I appreciate you to the moon,” Rodriguez said in one message, according to screenshots published Monday by TMZ.

In a separate string of texts sent Aug. 31, Rodriguez informed Perry of his ongoing health issues, adding that he did not have health insurance. “I know I promised you I would never ask you for anything, but if it is what I think it is, I don’t think I could do it on my own because I barely pay my bills,” Rodriguez said in one message, according to TMZ.

“I just can’t go to the doctor because I can’t even afford it,” Rodriguez said in another August text message. “I don’t want anything. I just wanna be OK. Scared brother.”

Perry attorney Alex Spiro said Monday in a statement: “I said it before and I’ll say it again. This is nothing but a 77 million dollar money grab scam.”

The Rodriguez suit comes after “The Oval” actor Derek Dixon sued Perry in June, alleging quid pro quo sexual harassment, sexual battery, retaliation and more. Dixon is seeking $260 million in damages.

Rodriguez alleges in his lawsuit that Perry, 56, leveraged his Hollywood stature “to abuse and sexually assault people who hope to secure roles in his movies,” echoing claims Dixon made in his June filing. Rodriguez also alleges that Perry did not rehire him for further projects because he rejected the director’s sexual advances. Rodriguez and Dixon are both represented by attorney Jonathan J. Delshad.

According to the new lawsuit, Rodriguez started out as a model before a trainer approached him at a luxury gym in 2015 and put him in contact with Perry for a potential role in “Boo! A Madea Halloween.” Before Rodriguez auditioned and secured the minor role, Perry allegedly informed him, “I’m not a bad person to know and have in your corner” and touted the idea of more roles in the future.

The lawsuit alleges the mogul first sexually assaulted Rodriguez in Perry’s Los Angeles home in 2015. The two began drinking together before Perry invited the actor-model to his home theater to watch a movie, the document says. Perry, who instructed Rodriguez to leave his phone in the kitchen, allegedly asked the actor about his personal life and proceeded to hug him and compliment his appearance. He allegedly began rubbing Rodriguez’s shoulders and chest while making sexual noises, the lawsuit said. After Rodriguez attempted to distance himself, Perry allegedly continued touching the actor, “rubbing his inner thigh right next to his penis,” the complaint says.

The filmmaker’s sexual assaults persisted, the lawsuit alleges, in the years after he and Rodriguez wrapped the “Madea” film in 2016. Rodriguez returned to L.A. and stayed in contact with Perry, who invited Rodriguez to visit his home again to discuss future projects, the filing says.

“After a couple of visits, Mr. Perry then again began to make more sexual comments to Mr. Rodriguez” about his appearance, “and to ask him graphic sexual questions” including whether he had ever had sex with another man, the lawsuit says. Perry allegedly grabbed Rodriguez’s leg near his genitals again, the complaint says.

In November 2018, Rodriguez accepted another invitation from Perry to discuss a potential role in the TV series “The Oval.” They met for dinner in Beverly Hills, where Perry allegedly asked “So what are we? What are we doing?” before the director instructed Rodriguez to meet him at his Los Angeles home later that evening.

Conversations about potential collaborations took a sexual turn, the lawsuit says, when Perry asked Rodriguez whether he liked oral sex and if he had given oral sex to a man. Perry allegedly tightly hugged Rodriguez, tried to unbuckle the actor’s pants, reached into his underwear and grabbed his penis, according to the complaint. Before Rodriguez left Perry’s home in a rideshare, the filmmaker placed $5,000 in his pocket, the suit says.

Perry continued to invite Rodriguez to his Los Angeles home under the guise of work and sexually assaulted the actor over the following months, the lawsuit says. After another incident in April 2019, the suit says, Rodriguez stopped communicating with Perry.

Perry allegedly became infuriated by Rodriguez’s efforts to keep his distance and sent the actor expletive-filled texts. The lawsuit includes screenshots of the alleged exchanges, including one in which Rodriguez apologizes for not staying in touch with the director due to personal matters.

“I deserve a text at [least] once a month,” Perry texted Rodriguez, according to the lawsuit. He also asked the actor about his physical training and requested to see pictures, the complaint said.

Regarding his surfaced texts to Perry, Rodriguez added in his statement that “continued financial support and access are not inconsistent with abuse — they are often part of the power dynamics that follow it.”

He added: “The existence of financial assistance does not disprove harm. It is entirely consistent with the complex realities survivors face after abuse.”

Rodriguez also sued Perry for intentional infliction of emotional distress and sued “Boo! A Madea Halloween” distributor Lionsgate for negligent retention.