Coming (very) soon: Data on writers and AI
In August and September, with the support and sponsorship of Gotham Ghostwriters, I undertook a study of writers and their attitudes about AI. The results were fascinating. This Wednesday, November 5, we’ll be releasing them in the form of a free report.
While I can’t share any statistics yet, I can tell you a little of what’s coming:
- 1,481 complete responses from writers and other writing professionals
- Analysis from a wide variety of types of writers including journalists, authors (both nonfiction and fiction), ghostwriters, content marketers, editors, copy writers, speechwriters, PR professionals, and technical writers.
- Writers displaying a surprising variety of usage patterns, from AI users that use it every day for a wide variety of tasks to others that use it only occasionally, plus hundreds of responses from people who never use AI.
- Information on how writers use 19 different AI tools, from ChatGPT and Claude to Grammarly and Notebook LM.
- AI users’ self-reported information on how it’s impacting their productivity and writing quality.
- Analysis of how AI is affecting demand and income of freelance writers and editors.
- Data on writing professionals’ main concerns about the rapid rise of this new tool.
- Reports on how much writers expect AI to impact their jobs, including how many have seen colleagues laid off due to AI.
The report also includes the most vivid collection of verbatim text comments I’ve ever seen in a survey — because, of course, writers are eloquent. Here’s a preview:
“Today alone I edited 5 chapters, made 3 book covers, summarized meeting notes, put together a Jira workflow, and still had time to go out for dinner with my family.”
“The biggest benefit I’ve had is in its help getting me over that ‘blank screen syndrome’ and just get started.”
“Is ‘doom loop of computers writing regurgitated soulless garbage only to be read/summarized by other computers while humanity gets dumber and dumber and loses its ability to read, write, think and care’ overly pessimistic?”
“Humanity will take one giant leap towards becoming a vanilla, soulless corporate fucksickle, bereft of soul and heart.”
How to get the report
The report will become available for free download at https://gothamghostwriters.com/ai-writer starting at 7am ET on November 5.
If you are a journalist or blogger and would like to interview me about the results, contact me at josh at bernoff dotcom.
This was one of the most fascinating research projects I’ve ever done. I’ll share more actual statistics on Wednesday.