Is “AI-assisted” okay when writing your book?

I often receive enquiries for editing projects from authors who say they have used a “little bit” of AI – maybe just for some brainstorming, or “just for spelling and grammar”, or “just to fill in a few spots”.

Everyone wants to know where the line is. Is “AI-assisted” okay? How much AI assistance is too much?

Do they have to tick “yes” on the “Have you used AI” checkbox that publishers, agents and submissions now require?

My advice, if the AI has generated any amount of content for you, is to rewrite those parts completely in your own words.

For generative AI, this is a no brainer.

• It’s not ethical.

• It’s not eligible for copyright protection. (Publishers won’t touch it.)

• It’s, by design, choosing the statistically most probable next word, which results in cliche and predictable prose.

But what about the other uses of AI that are in the murky zone?

What about brainstorming your plot or characters with AI? Isn’t that just like brainstorming with a friend?

At the moment, this generally seems acceptable, as most publishers and platforms like KDP say it is permissible (as long as the writing is yours).

However, remember, you may not get the best ideas. You’ll get the most predictable ideas. If anyone else put in the same prompts, you might get similar results, so it’s probably not as good as using your imagination.

Also, as recently as last week, I’ve seen one Australian publisher (Rhiza Press) and the international Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI) both amend their submission rules to explicitly disallow brainstorming with AI, so this is an evolving space.

I just used it for research, like on Google. The AI summary always comes up first.

Yes, it’s hard to avoid sometimes, especially when AI is getting baked into operating systems and programs.

Best practice is to fact check the information first, review it for potential bias, and only use it as background knowledge (e.g. don’t copy and paste the AI-generated summary, like you wouldn’t plagiarise any other source).

What about just for spelling and grammar and stuff? That’s basically just like spellcheck, isn’t it?

Again, generally permissible (check specific publisher policies). Make sure you prompt it clearly, like to use Australian English, or to follow specific style rules.

If the AI is suggesting you reword your sentences, make sure your voice stays intact and that your text isn’t being flattened into a generic style.

For this “proofreading” type service, be aware that the AI won’t catch continuity or big-picture errors like a human proofreader would.

Also be aware that even using AI as a proofreading tool may introduce metadata that then flags the text as having AI input.

I prompted AI to write my book with all my ideas. Can you edit it to make it not sound like AI?

It’s actually harder for an editor to work on AI-generated content (even if the spelling and grammar are perfect) because we are trying to find what it’s actually saying underneath the gloss. Where’s the voice? Where’s the point? Where’s the life of the story?

Many editors won’t touch it at all, and others charge an AI surcharge because it is so much slower to work on.

Personally, I choose not to work on AI-generated material. If you have used some, this is where I suggest you rewrite those parts before it comes to me.

Josh Bernoff, ghostwriter and editor, explains it well:

“AI-generated manuscripts are clean, free of grammatical errors, and smooth and easy to read. They are also soulless. A good editor attempts to allow the author’s voice and ideas to shine through by fixing writing problems. In this case, there is no author’s voice. This makes it very hard for the editor to do the job.

Worse yet, I need to rewrite every word of AI-generated text to ensure that the result is eligible for copyright. That’s at least 50% more work than editing a human-generated manuscript.

It’s also a signal to clients that there is a cost to their cutting corners with AI. If everyone in the editorial business charged 50% extra like I do, clients would rapidly realize that they’re not going to save time and money by substituting AI for their own writing.”

What do you think?

Are there other reasonable, grey or absolutely red-flag uses of AI you’ve encountered when writing a book?

I’d love to hear your thoughts.