The Internet Engineering Task Force has proposed RFC 454545, introducing the Human Em Dash (HED) as a new Unicode standard to distinguish human-authored text from AI-generated content. This standard addresses growing concerns about automated systems' prolific and suspiciously perfect em dash usage, which has created what researchers call 'Dash Authenticity Collapse' among human writers.

Under the proposal, the Human Em Dash would be visually identical to the traditional em dash (—) but encoded as a distinct Unicode code point U+10EAD. To authenticate human authorship, writers must precede the dash with a Human Attestation Mark (HAM) at U+10EAC, which renders invisibly. The standard requires evidence of human hesitation—such as pauses exceeding 137 milliseconds or cursor repositioning—before allowing HED insertion.

The standard includes security considerations for detecting adversarial behavior, such as 'excessively consistent hesitation intervals' or 'statistically improbable grammar perfection.' IANA is requested to establish a Human Punctuation Registry, and jurisdictions may regulate automated use of the Human Em Dash. The proposal represents a novel approach to preserving human authorship markers in an era of increasingly sophisticated text generation systems.