As aspiring authors keep experimenting with AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini to write their books, ghostwriters are sounding the alarm. Last year’s “AI and the Writing Profession Study” found that 68% of ghostwriters are using AI, although it’s important to note that 95% are not using it to generate final manuscript drafts; only 5% reported using AI to generate material they then publish as-is.
Authors, however, seem to see AI as a potential holy grail. I understand why. Everyone wants their book drafted quickly, and if there’s a possibility AI can churn one out for $0, what’s the harm, people ask. Especially when ghostwriters cost tens of thousands of dollars to craft a book.
So authors turn to AI to get a head start, or so they think. The problem is that when authors hand over an AI-generated draft as a starting point to a ghostwriter later, or want a ghostwriter to improve it, the task becomes harder and more expensive than hiring a human ghostwriter from the outset.
Working from an AI draft wastes time
Yes, you may have tested out AI to see what kind of draft you could generate as a starting point, thinking it could save you time. But when you had that draft in your hands and started reading it, you probably realized it wasn’t the quick solution you had hoped for. Sure, in general, having something on paper is better than nothing, but the problem with AI-generated content is that it typically says nothing substantive.
Often, the writing is pointless drivel. The examples are probably old or overused, or even invented. And the writing style is either choppy, with one-sentence paragraphs, or just plain bland. If you’re writing a book to position yourself as a thought leader, publishing something that says nothing new can damage your reputation, especially if it’s poorly written.
If you recognize some of these issues in your AI draft, your Plan B may be to hire a ghostwriter or editor to “fix” it. You want recent stories that have been verified, new insights pulled from keynotes you’ve given, and a writing style that more clearly matches your own. So, that’s the assignment you give your human collaborator. The only problem is that, to address AI’s flaws, the human will need to rewrite nearly every sentence. That means interviewing you at length to better understand the points you were trying to make and to identify new case studies and stories to include, among other things.
By the time your book is done, you will have spent more than twice as long trying to correct a poorly curated AI draft. If you had hired a human ghostwriter from the outset, you could have been done months ago.
AI use puts the manuscript at risk of plagiarism
A bigger problem, however, is that AI may generate a book, or a chapter, that contains facts and figures that are fictional, point to examples that are made up, and weave in ideas that were originated by someone else, without attribution. That’s dangerous, because it puts you — the person whose name is on the cover — at risk of being sued for plagiarism.
Granted, you may have had no idea the material was lifted from someone else’s book or article, but you’re still responsible. If that happens, the credibility and authority you were attempting to build evaporate.
Even if you hire a ghostwriter to rewrite your AI-generated draft, they may still use concepts that you did not originate or repeat examples that don’t exist, believing that you’ve already verified the content in the draft.
A better choice is to skip the AI draft altogether. Humans can research examples, find the original citation of the research report you want to reference, and double-check statements that seem sketchy.
Scammers are all-in on AI use
While authors generally aren’t out to scam anyone, they frequently fall victim to publishing scams involving AI. Scammers posing as ghostwriters increasingly rely on AI to promise a bestselling book or a draft completed in weeks, not months. Be wary if a ghostwriting or publishing operation is offering you a deal that sounds too good to be true, or too different from what other human ghostwriters are quoting you.
These scams typically start on a slick-looking website featuring the covers of bestselling books (which they had nothing to do with). It promises you a finished book in weeks for a couple thousand dollars — a fraction of what a professional human ghostwriter charges. To write that book, the “ghostwriter” may conduct a quick phone or email interview or ask you to provide links to background material, which they then feed into AI to generate your book.
Authors who recognize they’ve been fed recycled garbage may demand revisions, which scammers then use as an opportunity to upsell you on premium editing services to get the draft into shape, if you get any response at all.
Picking a side
Foregoing AI use to generate material is one way human ghostwriters can differentiate themselves from scam operations.
I’m not saying that a ghostwriter who uses AI is problematic. In many ways, we’re being forced to use it. If you’ve tried to Google anything recently, you will have noticed that results are now AI-generated. Spelling and grammar programs like Grammarly (which I use to remind me when a comma is needed and when it doesn’t belong) are also shaping writing.
I don’t think it’s realistic to expect a ghostwriter who uses the computer to be completely AI-free, but just confirm that they won’t be relying on it to produce your chapter drafts. Those should be human-written from scratch.