How ghostwriters use AI — and why they’re less threatened by it
The second annual Gathering of the Ghosts conference begins today in New York. In preparation for that event, I did a deeper dive into our AI and the Writing Profession survey, sponsored by Gotham Ghostwriters, to concentrate specifically on book ghostwriters.
The survey reached a total of 1,481 writers, of which 1,190 were classified as “writing professionals” (that is, excluding fiction authors). The survey reached 115 respondents who were primarily ghostwriters, 10% of the writing professionals . (An additional 11% did ghostwriting along with their other primary writing work, but for the purposes of this analysis, I’ll be concentrating on those whose primary writing job is ghostwriting books.)
A sample size of 115 is acceptable for comparison purposes, but has a larger margin of error. The margin of error for 1,190 writing professionals is 3%, while the margin of error for 115 ghostwriters is 9%.
Ghostwriters use AI similarly to other writers, but their job security may be better
Below I share statistics for writing professionals and ghostwriters in our survey, so you can compare. For the most part, ghostwriters behave similarly to other writing professionals. They’re slightly more likely to use AI (68% vs. 61% for all writing professionals). Their annual median income is $112,100, significantly higher than other writing professionals. However, ghostwriters who use AI have only 14% higher incomes than those who don’t (while among other writing professionals, AI users have 45% higher incomes). They use very similar tools, although ghostwriters are more likely to use the transcription tool Otter.ai. Unsurprisingly, ghostwriters use AI more for search and research than typical writers.
| Statistic | Writing Professionals | Ghostwriters |
|---|---|---|
| % who are women | 68% | 63% |
| Average age | 51 | 55 |
| % who use AI at least sometimes | 61% | 68% |
| Daily AI users | 26% | 25% |
| Median income | $91,200 | $112,100 |
| Median income of AI users | $106,300 | $116,300 |
| Median income of AI nonusers | $73,400 | $102,500 |
| % difference in income, AI users vs. nonusers | 45% higher | 14% higher |
| Most popular AI tools used weekly (AI users) | ChatGPT(76%) Grammarly (37%) Claude (33%) Google Gemini (28%) Perplexity (19%) | ChatGPT (75%) Grammarly (37%) Claude (34%) Otter.ai (25%) Perplexity (19%) |
| Average number of AI tools used weekly (AI users) | 3.2 | 3.3 |
| Most popular weekly AI tasks (AI users) | Find titles/headings (72%) Search (71%) Brainstorming (68%) Thesaurus (68%) Other research (63%) | Search (77%) Other research (66%) Brainstorming (63%) Find titles/headings (62%) Thesaurus (57%) |
| Average number of weekly AI tasks | 3.6 | 3.6 |
| % who use AI to generate text and then publish it | 7% | 5% |
A more dramatic difference appeared when comparing the impact of AI on ghostwriters as compared to other freelancers.
The chart below compares how ghostwriters and all writing professionals assess the impact of AI on demand for their work. Ghostwriters are less than half as likely to see AI as reducing demand compared to all writing professionals as a group, and nearly twice as likely to report an increase in demand.
Source: AI and the Writing Profession Survey, 2025
You can see a similar pattern in writers’ assessment of the impact of AI on their income — they’re only half as likely to report a decline in income, and nearly twice as likely to report an increase.
Source: AI and the Writing Profession Survey, 2025
Is ghostwriting AI-proof?
It’s important not to overinterpret this pattern. After all, it represents the opinions of only 115 ghostwriters, and even among that group, they’re still more likely to report a decline in demand and income than an increase.
But the fact remains that within our sample, eight out of ten ghostwriters do not report a decline in demand or income due to AI — a far better situation than with other writers.
Ghostwriting is a relationship business. It’s not just about writing and research. It demands a keen understanding of the human needs of clients as well as unparalleled skill in translating client perspectives into writing in the voice of those clients. Of all nonfiction writing jobs, it may be the most human.
So perhaps its not surprising that AI is less of a threat to ghostwriters than it is to other writers. Ghostwriting clients want an inspired, creative, responsive human connection. No machine can create that.