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I don't think any value would be lost in that case by simply deleting the text and not replacing it with anything. AI is particularly bad at inserting this kind of filler, it can sometimes be really hard to spot even though it's right in front of your eyes.

Just more hidden cost of AI.. it's sufficiently hard to avoid these kinds of structural smells that I've gone back to just writing my own copy everywhere.

I also write my own copy. (You're absolutely right!) But this trend on HN of calling out everything as AI slop is a bit tiring.
Reading so much of it on HN is presumably equally as tiring.
I think the problem is that half the time the callouts are incorrect (edgelords trying to be clever) or irrelevant (non-native speakers using AI to translate or clarify).
Sustained pushback helps define how the tool is used, and if it only takes a few years of complaints to permanently establish good social norms around it, I think we're better for it. At least, I much prefer this than a world where everyone is too polite to complain about slop until slop is all that is left..
I agree. However, it's gotten so bad that people are calling out AI slop on things they just don't care for — or mistake human writing for AI — which paradoxically becomes its own red flag to ignore the comment, even if there are valid points within.

I just used the em dash twice, and have been doing so for 35 years. This is now supposedly a dead give-away for slop.

Call it slop when it's slop. When it's not total garbage, give it a rest.