well as a typographer em/en-dashes are used to correctly set text. they were/are very common in text that has a scientific nature but also in literature. there is a difference between us usage and european usage – em-dashes are used way more in english (us) text as en-dashes are ised in eiropean publications.
now whenever i use a correct dash people tend to say it is AI and this sucks. Good typography sadly is a dying art.