The Ghostwriter and AI: Are they different, or are both OK?

Do all the best-selling, prominent authors write all their books themselves, or do they contract ghostwriters after providing the outline? I understand that several well-known, best-selling authors have done exactly that, and while this may not seem probable, it is happening. Sorry, but I cannot provide statistics because this is a well-known publishing secret, except for a select few people who disclose it to others. There have been rumors that one well-known, bestselling author had his publisher heavily edit his books because his manuscripts were unpublishable.

When a novel author turns into a brand instead of just an author, they often hire ghostwriters to meet the needs of their readers. James Patterson is a great example of this. He is 77 years old now. In 1967, when he was 20 years old, he published his first book. Since then, over 200 books have come out with his name on the cover.

Currently, Patterson has “co-authored” a book with the deceased Michael Crichton, and it is a bestseller on the day of publication. Crichton’s widow had the initial manuscript he had written before he died, and she contacted Patterson with a proposal requesting him to finish the book and be a co-author. It has now been published, entitled “Eruption.”

Not Simply Novels

Before his hit movies “The Sixth Sense” and “Unbreakable,” M. Night Shyamalan, an Indian-American director and writer, worked as a screenwriter, rewriting other people’s stories when they needed more work.
Aaron Sorkin, who won an Academy Award for writing “A Few Good Men,” worked as a script doctor in Hollywood in the mid-1990s. Carrie Fisher worked as a script doctor on movies like “Hook,” “Sister Act,” and “The Wedding Singer.”

Taylor Swift is well known for her work as a solo singer and for writing songs for other big stars. However, she does not write the songs under her own name. Swifties have been sure that the singer wrote music under the name Nils Sjöberg for years.

And if anyone thinks that ghostwriters are just a few individuals who offer their services, let me clear this up for you. Ghostwriting is a major industry; some companies will write anything you want and keep your ghost secret for that effort. You can employ a ghostwriter for a few hundred dollars if you have something simple, and they are eager for any customers that may come their way. But quality writing doesn’t come cheaply.

Others, with a stable of ghostwriters who write everything, including fiction, nonfiction, memoirs, self-help, music, screenplays, poetry, etc., will charge much more, possibly in the thousands.

Some ghostwriters will require that they receive a portion of the royalties that the “author” receives from the publishing company. Other ghostwriters may receive a simple note of thanks inside the book, not mentioning that they were the ghostwriters but simply someone the author wants to thank for their help.

Probably one of the most famous incidents of an allegation of having used a ghostwriter for a book that received a Pulitzer was President John F. Kennedy’s “Profiles in Courage.” The rumor was that Kennedy’s chief speechwriter, Theodore Sorensen, had written the book for him.

Kennedy strongly demanded that this be stopped and threatened to sue anyone who said he hadn’t written the book himself. He then produced many notes, editing comments, and other materials to attest that it was his book, not Sorenson’s. For his part, Sorenson always insisted he had not written the book and that it was Kennedy’s product, and he only helped with some editing.

An interesting side note here is that Kennedy had previously published another book. A thesis he wrote in his senior year at Harvard College was turned into the book “Why England Slept”(1940). The title refers to Winston Churchill’s 1938 book “While England Slept,” which also examined how German power grew. The belief in publishing was that Kennedy’s father thought this book might help him launch his political career.

Of course, we also have a little-known tale about a book that sells thousands of copies yearly. I am referring to Dr. Spock’s famous book, “Baby and Childcare,” now in its 10th edition. The book was written mostly by his wife, who was never given credit for her writing until 30 years after it was published.

Ghostwriters have even caught the eye of the famous writer Philip Roth, who wrote a short story for the New Yorker entitled “The Ghostwriter.”

If ghostwriters write the entire book, script, or whatever, how is that different from AI doing the same? Yes, an actual human being writes one, and the other is a product of a large language model (LLM); both follow the rules of grammar and can be edited in any way the human writer wishes. But is there some moral imperative here, or is that not something to be considered?

If we provide AI with detailed prompts and tell it to produce something exactly how we want it, who is doing the creative work? AI is simply taking our commands as any ghostwriter would and producing copy. We can edit this copy, or we can refuse it and ask for a rewrite—exactly what we would do with a ghostwriter.

However, AI has a distinct ability that may be somewhat unnerving for many: It can write in the style of any famous writer. Give it your story that you’ve written and say you want it written in the form Ernest Hemingway used, Shakespeare, or anyone else, and it will do it.

At this point, it’s unclear what the problem is regarding a refusal to use AI in published writing. I’m sure the world could swim in tacky products produced in basements all over the world, and that might, in some small way, affect our cultural literacy.

But AI is, at this point, only a servant, not the master, and perhaps this is the concern that underscores all writing using these programs. We don’t refuse ghostwritten books or articles, do we? But isn’t this deception, as some may see AI products?

To stay in the safe zone, we may use AI to produce outlines, dialogue, headlines, or other minor projects where our input determines the resulting material. We can’t fail to recognize the value of AI and how it may actually assist us rather than replace us.

Remember, Gutenberg invented the printing press, which made books available to the public rather than keeping them the exclusive domain of the wealthy. AI may be in the same position here.