Yes, ChatGPT can write a business book. It can take an idea you provide and churn out 60,000 to 65,000 words in a matter of minutes.
The bigger question is, should you have ChatGPT write your business book?
The answer is no.
It’s a no, not because I want to convince you to hire me to write it for you, but because of the inherent risks in relying on AI to craft your book. I wouldn’t recommend anyone use ChatGPT to write their book, whether they’re a prospect or not. Here’s why:
Quick Answer
ChatGPT can generate a business-book draft, but it should not replace an author’s ideas, lived experience, or a professional ghostwriter’s interview process. For leaders using a book to build authority, AI-generated copy can raise copyright-protection, credibility, publishing, originality, and accuracy risks.
No Copyright
The U.S. Copyright Office currently states that AI-generated content, including books, is not copyrightable. This means you can’t protect what you’ve written from anyone who wants to copy it and use it in their own work. This could prove to be a problem if you hope to license your book, translate it into other languages, or use it as the basis of courses and other products. No copyright effectively means that what you have is in the public domain.
No Credibility
If you’re a leader aspiring to position yourself as a visionary or thought leader, releasing an AI-generated book is much more likely to damage your reputation than to enhance it. Most thought leaders write books as a way to differentiate themselves and share their unique take on a topic or issue. Frequently, that material is presented in the form of a proprietary framework, a contrarian viewpoint, or an impressive personal story. ChatGPT can only gather existing content and fashion it into a book—it can’t produce original ideas. So if you rely on ChatGPT to produce your book, it will be generic, which could damage your professional reputation and defeat the whole purpose behind writing it in the first place, such as improving your authority and personal brand, attracting speaking gigs and consulting engagements, and other business opportunities. A ChatGPT-created book just won’t do that for you.
No Publisher
Traditional and most hybrid publishers have taken a hardline stance on AI-generated books. The Authors Guild’s AI best practices notes that AI-generated material can conflict with an author’s contractual warranty of original authorship. Many are adding contract terms strictly prohibiting AI-generated material, backed up by indemnification clauses if you try to test the system. We’ve already seen several high-profile books get pulled from bookstores because of a claim of AI content. I guess you may perceive this to be less of an issue if you’re self-publishing, and in that case there are other risks to be aware of.
No Interviews
A ghostwriter’s real value isn’t as a human transcriptionist; it’s as an interviewer. The difference between a book that is compelling, interesting, and insightful and one that shares nothing new comes down to the interview process. Professional ghostwriters are adept at asking questions that get you to think back to experiences you may have forgotten, or to recognize decisions you weren’t aware of until someone shone a light on them. A skilled interviewer helps you identify stories that will resonate with your target reader, gather opinions that will make them think, and share lived experiences you might not have realized could be inspirational to someone who is trying to learn from you. ChatGPT can’t interview you, and it doesn’t know what follow-up questions will trigger important realizations or anecdotes that will make your book special.
No Accuracy
We all know that ChatGPT has a tendency to hallucinate, or to make up facts and figures, often in an attempt to be helpful to you. And only when you push back or ask for proof does it acknowledge that it may have completely fabricated what it told you. The problem is that if you rely on what ChatGPT feeds you and put it in your book and it turns out to be false, you’re the one who will look foolish later if a reader spots one of those hallucinations. It’s your name on your book, so you’re the one who is responsible for anything that ChatGPT gets wrong. There’s a huge potential downside when that happens. It’s a big risk.
To be fair, ChatGPT can be an excellent resource, and I’m not saying you should never use it. In fact, some ghostwriters use it regularly, just not for writing. Some ways ChatGPT can be helpful include offering suggestions for chapter structure, finding relevant research (which you then verify), providing potential section header titles, and generating possible titles, among many other tasks. What I am saying is that you shouldn’t use ChatGPT to generate your book.
So what can you do instead? You can use AI to generate questions that you then respond to and turn into chapters. You can dictate your book and hire a developmental editor to help structure it and point out information gaps (but don’t upload your draft to ChatGPT for a check because then it becomes part of the AI universe). Or you can hire a ghostwriter to partner with you to get your ideas onto the page. For a closer look at why the human dimension still matters, read How AI Is Changing Ghostwriting (And Why You Still Need a Human Writer).
If you’d like a copy of a guide I created that explains how ghostwriting works and what your publishing options currently are, please email me at marcia@marcialaytonturner.com, and I’d be happy to email it to you.
This, Not That: Using AI in a Business-Book Project
| Use AI for | Not for |
|---|---|
| Brainstorming possible chapter structures | Replacing your original ideas and point of view |
| Generating interview questions you answer yourself | Replacing the interview process that draws out your stories |
| Finding research leads you independently verify | Supplying unverified facts or figures for the manuscript |
| Exploring working titles and section headers | Writing a book presented as your authoritative expertise |
Glossary of Terms
- AI-generated content: Text created by an artificial-intelligence system from a prompt rather than authored from a person’s original expression.
- Ghostwriter: A professional writer who interviews a client, shapes the client’s ideas, and writes a manuscript credited to that client.
- Hallucination: An AI output that presents invented or inaccurate information as though it were fact.
- Developmental editor: An editor who helps an author organize a manuscript, identify gaps, and strengthen its overall structure.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can ChatGPT write a business book?
ChatGPT can generate book-length text, but this article explains why it should not replace an author’s ideas, expertise, stories, or a professional ghostwriter’s interview process.
What can ChatGPT help with during a business-book project?
It can help brainstorm chapter structures, possible section headers, research leads to verify, and questions an author can answer in their own words.
Why does interviewing matter in ghostwriting?
Interviewing helps uncover the author’s experiences, opinions, and stories—the material that gives a thought-leadership book its credibility and point of view.
For a related perspective, read 5 Reasons Having AI Write Your Book Is a Very Bad Idea.