An artificial intelligence (AI) software service called ChatGPT made its debut in November, 2022. The service is able to produce text that is grammatically correct and designed to respond to a prompt or question. For example, if you say to ChatGPT, “Please provide 10,000 words on how to get a better job,” it can do that.
You can see where this is going.
In February 2023, Reuters reported that over 200 e-books had suddenly appeared in Amazon’s Kindle store listing ChatGPT as an author or co-author. Titles included “How to Write and Create Content Using ChatGPT,” “ChatGPT for Nonfiction Authors,” and even poetry collections. One book promises, “Say goodbye to the tedious process of researching, brainstorming, and drafting – with ChatGPT by your side, you’ll be writing better, faster, and more effectively than ever before!”
On YouTube, TikTok, and Reddit you can find countless tutorials showing you how to create a book in just a few hours. Common subjects include dieting advice, cooking, get-rich-quick schemes, and software coding tips. Children’s books are a growing market – you can give ChatGPT a prompt, such as “How the lonely bunny made friends,” and in a few hours your book, with cute illustrations, is ready to sell.
There is even a new sub-genre on Amazon: “Books about using ChatGPT, written entirely by ChatGPT.”
How does ChatGPT write? It learns by scanning millions of pages of existing text. In response to a prompt, it then spews out a rehash of these sources. This is a cheaper and faster version of what cut-rate human ghostwriters have been doing for years. As you can imagine, there are huge problems with this approach.
• ChatGPT cannot differentiate between legitimate sources and internet garbage.
• The syntax it produces is stiff and conforms to arbitrary rules defined by the programmer. In contrast, exceptional human writers know how to bend the rules.
• It produces the lowest common denominator product with no original insights. ChatGPT books are easy to spot, even by other ChatGPT programs (which makes for a weird circular firing squad).
• ChatGPT has been known to “hallucinate” (this is the actual term!) and write things that are simply absurd.
I Write Innovative Books for Leaders
Fortunately, ChatGPT – and the other chatbots that are sure to follow – will not affect my business. This is because ChatGPT writes by looking at what has already been written and mimicking it. In contrast, my job as a ghostwriter and editor is to ensure that your book stands out from the crowd by being fresh, original, and insightful. You need a book that’s innovative and leads the pack, not one that follows behind. Yes, it costs more to be a leader, but in the long term, the benefits are unequalled. With a professionally ghostwritten book from Thomas Hauck, you’ll be positioned to lead your category and establish yourself as a true authority.
