Parmy Olson has started using larger language models more frequently in her own research since receiving the Financial Times and Schroders Business Business Books of the Year Award with Supremacy and Tech Companies’ awards for the fight for controlling artificial intelligence. “(They) could be a useful tool for bouncing ideas, exploring angles, getting historical references and comparing them,” she says.
With the release of the 2025 edition of the awards, debate about whether the generator AI is a threat or an opportunity for the author is consuming the industry.
“We know very much that these technologies can be used in ways that dilute the market for human-written works,” said Umair Kazi, director of advocacy and policy at the Authors Guild, an American author organization. “But at the same time, they are very useful tools.”
The fluent prose of AI Generals may drive some writers out of their work. There is also growing evidence that some LLMs are trained by developers on pirated versions of copyrighted books without the author’s consent.
Concerns about illegal scraping are opposed by a unified author. “We have never had that level of agreement between membership on any matter,” says Mary Raysenberger, a former copyright and media lawyer who is now the CEO of the Authors Guild.
The challenges of AI are also brought together by publishers and agents. Esmond Harmsworth, president of the literary institution Aevitas, said: “Because the authors and publishers could easily be replaced (AI), it is a more comfortable negotiation and we are working together to resolve this.” The agent is currently claiming the terms of this Agreement to control future training of LLM on the author’s work, or, in some cases, to license its use for a fee.
However, AI is also an opportunity. The same engine provides automated assistance to the authors of brainstorming and researching ideas, or editing and reviewing what they write.
Olson says, “I still can’t see a model that can generate text that can replace my own sentences.” She says that Gen Ai’s prose is “bland” and “not writing in your own voice always comes up with a soul.”
As Olson does, using LLMS in research often falls under guidelines for responsible and effective use of AI. AI was created for authors last month by Wiley, who publishes academic works, textbooks and general business books.
Josh Jarrett, Wiley’s Senior Vice President of AI Growth, assumes that writers “we’re going to use these tools anyway and need to find the right place for that continuum.”
The guidance framed after researching 5,000 authors and researchers states that the technology should be used “as a companion to the writing process, not as an alternative.” If an author needs to disclose the use of AI, for example, it is laid out when the tool “changes the way (they) thinks about important discussions and conclusions.” Wiley uses AI to allow surveillance and disclosure to prepare “educational content” such as case studies and practice questions. The guide is a “living document,” says Jarrett. This will evolve as technology develops.
There are indications that AI is working deeply into the writing process. In particular, OpenRy co-founder Sam Altman announced on social media platform X last month that the model, which has yet to be released, is “excellent at creative writing.”
Serious publishers and agents write the entire book against the use of AI, but some experiment. Wiley tried to use technology to create a manual-generated AI for dummies. Jarrett helped draft the chapter headings, but says, “I actually didn’t save much time.” Wiley says that using Generative AI can be used to develop new formats such as a concise edition of heavyweight textbooks.
Executive coach Marshall Goldsmith has an AI avatar that answers questions based on his previous work, including his bestsellers, so that his bestsellers don’t take you here. When asked if technology would help coaching, MarshallGoldsmith.ai replied that the best results combine both human and machine.
James Levine, principal of agency Levine Greenberg Rostan, says it’s not in the words spoken, but in the words spoken, rather than in the words that read, “Some publishers are now using AI to record audiobooks.” Meanwhile, Harmsworth points out that quick recordings of materials that may otherwise not be available in audio format can be a boon for visually impaired readers.
Kevin Anderson, CEO of Book Writing Service’s Kevin Anderson & Associates, believes AI will hit ghostwriters in the low to mid-range of the sector. They are usually paid between $25,000 and $50,000 for 18 months of work in a book that raises profiles of business leaders and celebrities. Anderson points out that AI can put together a proper how-to book on weekends, which is “generic, comprehensive, well written and well organized.”
At the top of the profession that his agency recently sealed off a ghostwriting deal of nearly $500,000, Anderson says machines are difficult to replace humans. “Generating content isn’t necessarily about humans being better than AI. You come up with what content should be, think about being that interviewer, and use human intuition to find a way to get (the story) the right way,” he says.
Even if some authors don’t already use AI, their agents and publishers will almost certainly do it. Springer Nature this month fought the false research generated by AI and introduced tools to identify unrelated references in its books and journal submissions. Levine uses a specialized AI “Persona” to help criticize book proposals for joining on technical subjects, but simply uses models that are not trained to author permission and input.
Technology is advancing rapidly. “Already, there’s been a significant decline in some of the side jobs authors have done to supplement the income they’ve written, including book income, business writing, journalism, and more. And now they’re looking at books generated by AI, competing with themselves, and sometimes using texts and identities,” warns Rasenberger.
Harmsworth believes the model has yet to keep up with talented writers. But “the big question that we all worry about is how long it will last.”
For more information about the FT and Schroders Business Book of the Year Award 2025, visit www.ft.com/bookaward://businessbook.live.ft.com/.
