Will AI replace ghostwriters?

Photo by Nick Morrison on Unsplash

 With AI decimating jobs and professions across the board, does ghostwriting have any chance of standing up to the juggernaut? For GenAI technology with its multifarious capabilities, ghostwriting is probably low-hanging fruit when it comes to replacing human beings. That may really be bad news for the thriving ghostwriting industry currently valued at $1.42 billion and projected to reach $2,23 billion by 2030. But are things really that way for ghostwriters, and is it really the end of the road for them? The facts seem to suggest otherwise. Far from damaging the prospects for ghostwriters, digital technology has seen a sharp growth in demand for their services as more and more individuals, organisations, and businesses are communicating more and more with their audiences.

​From businesses seeking to engage and win over their customers and clients with content that speaks to the latter’s needs to thought and opinion leaders seeking to build up their brand image, ghostwriting is seeing a steady increase in demand.  From would- be authors seeking to self-publish to creators and influencers- a whole range of people and organisations would gladly pay for the services rendered by a ghost writer. Prince Harry’s much talked about best sellerSpare was, for instance, ghost written by JR Mochringer, apparently for a $1 million fee.

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The Entry of AI

While there is an undeniable boom in the growth of the ghostwriting industry, is there impending  doom on the horizon in the shape of AI writing tools, making it possible for anyone to churn out any form of written content, almost at will? The thing about using GenAI to write for you is that the quality of output entirely depends on the quality of input. If somebody outsourced writing work to a ghostwriter in the past  because they didn’t possess the required writing skills, then how could they now be expected to provide the ideal brief or set of prompts required to obtain high-quality content? A ghostwriter, on the other hand, is a living flesh-and-bone human being who can have a conversation with his client and draw out what it is that he or she wants to convey through a piece of writing.

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AI-generated content often lacks soul because it is essentially regurgitated, lacking emotional depth and genuine insight. It, therefore, comes across as flat and mechanical, akin to how Schwarzenegger speaks in a mechanical drawl in the Terminator series of movies. Would someone wanting to author a memoir collaborate with AI to bring the story of their life with all its human pain, suffering, angst, joys, victories and achievements or with a fellow empathetic human being, who is also an exquisite wordsmith?

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Humans Respond to Genuine Connection

What AI does often borders on plagiarism, because it does not think originally and simply discerns patterns from large amounts of written content created by others and hammers out some form of text that is neat, well organised, but completely lacking in soul. Human beings forge bonds on a primaeval and instinctive level. There is, perhaps, more chance of someone connecting with a dog or cat than with content created by a machine. When Brutus stabs Caesar in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, the latter utters the immortal line, “Et tu Brute, then fall Casesa,” encapsulating a human being’s pain and anguish at the betrayal of someone very close to oneself. In this, you have an example of words touching you deeply. Would AI be able to showcase genuine human pain and pathos with so much heartfelt honesty?

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AI Can Be Unreliable

Unsupervised and unvetted AI-generated content often contains major errors and factual inaccuracies. It can’t always be relied upon to conform to the most ethical practices in terms of complying with copyright issues, as originality is not its strong suit. With so much riding on the content created on behalf of large organisations and institutions, it is best to work with a human professional of high repute, who will deliver exactly what is required.

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Backlash Against AI Content

There is already a  massive backlash against AI writing, with prospective clients explicitly stating their preference for human created content. In fact, many of them use tools to detect the use of AI. Consulting major Deloitte had to recently agree to refund the Australian government a portion of a $440000 consultancy fee after acknowledging that a report delivered by it which contained AI generated content had many serious errors in it.  A horror novel titled Shy Girl by US author Mia Ballard, which was scheduled for publication in the US in the month of April got cancelled on account of concerns that AI had been used to write it.

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Conclusion

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Nobody is denying the fact that AI is a great tool for writers to use and improve their craft. It can help them carry out research, bounce off ideas, help in editing and organising text, gathering information and fact checking. Using it as a wholesale content creator, though, is not a great idea and may lead to grief. As a matter of fact, there is as much chance of ghostwriting being replaced by AI as there is of commercial airlines sacking human pilots and moving en masse to pilotless aircraft. It is just not tenable.

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