AI is ‘Americanising British English'
Language learning platform Babbel.com surveyed 500,000 people and found that 77 per cent believed British English was being 'Americanised ' by AI programs.
In addition, more than half of respondents (51 per cent) told the study they had stopped using punctuation marks such as the semicolon and Oxford comma because they were 'AI-like'.
Thirty-seven per cent said they deliberately avoided using correct punctuation to 'sound more human'. The same percentage of respondents were concerned future generations would learn grammar from AI, rather than a traditional education.
Noël Wolf, Babbel.com's linguistic expert, said: 'While AI writing tools are saving individuals valuable time, they're also nudging us towards a new kind of grammar.
' Punctuation marks like the Oxford comma, the final comma in a list, for example: Peter, Mary, and John, and the em dash (—), once markers of deliberate, expressive writing, are now double-edged.
'They're often added automatically by AI, and have therefore increasingly become hallmarks of AI-generated text.
'Wary of seeming robotic, formulaic or even lazy, this has led users to often strip these punctuation marks away from their writing altogether.'
Ms Wolf also noted that the 'shift goes beyond mere punctuation' with English grammar becoming 'increasingly Americanised '.
'This is evident in both spelling – 'organize' over 'organise' – and punctuation norms, which are increasingly becoming transatlantic.'
But Ms Wolf sounded an optimistic note, saying 'These changes don't mark the end of thoughtful writing.
'Instead, they offer a new lens through which to understand how language evolves, and what the influences upon this are.
'AI may be redrawing the lines, but it's also sparking important conversations about clarity, intention and expression.'
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