A study commissioned by the Gotham Ghostwriters and Bernoff.com found that while most professional writers are embracing AI tools, authors, specifically fiction authors, are much more wary.

The study, "A.I. and The Writing Profession," collected response from 1,481 working writers comprised of 1,190 writing professionals and 291 fiction authors. The analysis was supplied by author and former Forrester Research executive Josh Bernoff.

The majority of all writers think that AI poses both a threat and an opportunity. 61% reported using AI tools, which they say increase their productivity by an average of 31%, but only 7% of respondents have published AI-generated text.

The report found that the heaviest AI users are thought leadership writers (84%), PR/comms professionals (73%), and content marketing writers (73%). Excluding fiction authors, the writing professionals least likely to use AI in their work are copy editors (33%), journalists (44%), and technical writers (52%).

According to the report, writing professionals use AI for a variety of tasks. For daily use, the most popular AI-aided task is search. For less frequent tasks, a majority of AI users are using it to suggest possible titles and headings, for brainstorming, or as a thesaurus. While 63% use AI to generate text that they then edit further, only 7% use it to generate text content for publication, the report found. The average writer using AI does 3.6 different tasks with it weekly, and the most commonly used AI tool by far is ChatGPT.

The more writers use AI the more favorably the view the technology, though even heavy users have concerns, the report found. Nine out of 10 writers reported that they are worried about factual errors (hallucinations) being introduced by AI, but opinions on other AI challenges vary based on writers’ experiences with it. Nonusers are nearly unanimous in their concern about AI tools trained on copyrighted text, but only 61% of advanced users agree.

Of the 806 freelancers and small agency workers who took part in the survey, which was conducted this summer, nearly half of freelancers have experienced reduced demand for their work due to AI, and about three out of four freelancers and corporate workers expect their writing opportunities to decline because of AI. On the other hand, 21% of advanced users report seeing increased demand.

Fiction authors’ skepticism

Drilling down specifically to the 291 fiction authors who responded to the survey, only 42% said they use AI at least sometimes. Those that use it are generally positive about the experience, with 60% saying it improves the quality of their writing and 87% reporting it boosts productivity.

According to the report, the most popular AI tasks for fiction authors are brainstorming, search, and finding the right words or phrases. Only 11% use it to create publishable text.

Fiction writers who don't use AI, the report noted, “are nearly unanimous in their disgust for the technology.” In keeping with the slew of copyright lawsuits authors have filed against AI companies, 100% of nonuser fiction authors believe it is unfair to train AI tools on their work.

Concern about the poor quality of AI-generated text was also nearly uniform among nonuser fiction authors, with "more than nine out of ten ... concerned about hallucinations, the erosion of the value of writing, [and] bland and boring AI-generated slop,” the report reads.