I have not heard about this, but I have heard about “red flag” words. For example, this article by a Cal professor:
Honestly, I don’t know how I feel. Throughout high school, one of my daughter’s “go to” words had been “delve.” I told her to reconsider her use of it, based on the above article, lest she should be suspected of AI use.
But where does it end? And isn’t it ironic that the general advice is to be genuine in your writing to avoid such suspicion, but then when you are - such as using the em dash or a favored word - you fall into the trap of AI “red flags.” So how far to do you take your avoidance of potential ‘“red flags” and, if you start modifying your writing style to avoid them, doesn’t that then run the risk of sounding even more artificial and therefore also red flagged for AI?
Edited to add: I just realized that the above link cuts off the text unless you have a subscription. Here is a full version of the article, for those interested: