# The AI Ghostwriter Effect: When Users Do Not Perceive Ownership of AI-Generated Text But Self-Declare as Authors

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.03283 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.03283/

## Key facts

- Cited by 22 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 23 of its 111 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 6 Mar 2023.

## Builds on (most cited first, 23 of 23)

- [Attention Is All You Need](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1706.03762/) (2017)
- [Language Models are Few-Shot Learners](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.14165/) (2020)
- [DreamBooth: Fine Tuning Text-to-Image Diffusion Models for Subject-Driven Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.12242/) (2022)
- [What Makes Good In-Context Examples for GPT-3?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2101.06804/) (2021)
- [News Summarization and Evaluation in the Era of GPT-3](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.12356/) (2022)
- [CoAuthor: Designing a Human-AI Collaborative Writing Dataset for Exploring Language Model Capabilities](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.06796/) (2022)
- [Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence: Reliable, Safe & Trustworthy](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2002.04087/) (2020)
- [Co-Writing with Opinionated Language Models Affects Users' Views](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.00560/) (2023)
- [TURINGBENCH: A Benchmark Environment for Turing Test in the Age of Neural Text Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.13296/) (2021)
- [A Recipe For Arbitrary Text Style Transfer with Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.03910/) (2021)
- [Gmail Smart Compose: Real-Time Assisted Writing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1906.00080/) (2019)
- [The Impact of Multiple Parallel Phrase Suggestions on Email Input and Composition Behaviour of Native and Non-Native English Writers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2101.09157/) (2021)
- [Smart Reply: Automated Response Suggestion for Email](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1606.04870/) (2016)
- [Beyond Text Generation: Supporting Writers with Continuous Automatic Text Summaries](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.09323/) (2022)
- [Copyright in Generative Deep Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.09266/) (2021)
- [Refocusing on Relevance: Personalization in NLG](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.05140/) (2021)
- [An Aligned Rank Transform Procedure for Multifactor Contrast Tests](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.11824/) (2021)
- [Guess who? Multilingual approach for the automated generation of author-stylized poetry](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1807.07147/) (2018)
- [The Placebo Effect of Artificial Intelligence in Human-Computer Interaction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2204.04935/) (2022)
- [Suggestion Lists vs. Continuous Generation: Interaction Design for Writing with Generative Models on Mobile Devices Affect Text Length, Wording and Perceived Authorship](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.00870/) (2022)
- [Automatic Conditional Generation of Personalized Social Media Short Texts](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1906.09324/) (2019)
- [Creepy Technology: What Is It and How Do You Measure It?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.07470/) (2021)
- [A Trip to the Moon: Personalized Animated Movies for Self-reflection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1801.02691/) (2018)

## Built on by (most cited first, 22 of 22)

- [Beyond the Chat: Executable and Verifiable Text-Editing with LLMs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.15337/) (2023)
- [GhostWriter: Augmenting Collaborative Human-AI Writing Experiences Through Personalization and Agency](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.08855/) (2024)
- [User Experience Design Professionals' Perceptions of Generative Artificial Intelligence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.15237/) (2023)
- [Co-Writing with AI, on Human Terms: Aligning Research with User Demands Across the Writing Process](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.12488/) (2025)
- [Generative Echo Chamber? Effects of LLM-Powered Search Systems on Diverse Information Seeking](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.05880/) (2024)
- [Authors' Values and Attitudes Towards AI-bridged Scalable Personalization of Creative Language Arts](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.00439/) (2024)
- [The Great AI Witch Hunt: Reviewers Perception and (Mis)Conception of Generative AI in Research Writing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.12015/) (2024)
- [Vibe Coding in Product Teams: Reconfiguring AI-Assisted Workflows, Prototyping, and Collaboration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.10652/) (2025)
- [A Review of Fairness and A Practical Guide to Selecting Context-Appropriate Fairness Metrics in Machine Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.06624/) (2024)
- [ACAI for SBOs: AI Co-creation for Advertising and Inspiration for Small Business Owners](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.06729/) (2025)
- [Scaffolding Recursive Divergence and Convergence in Story Ideation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.03307/) (2025)
- [Exploration vs. Fixation: Scaffolding Divergent and Convergent Thinking for Human-AI Co-Creation with Generative Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.18388/) (2025)
- [TaleFrame: An Interactive Story Generation System with Fine-Grained Control and Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.02402/) (2025)
- [Who Owns the Text? Design Patterns for Preserving Authorship in AI-Assisted Writing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.10236/) (2026)
- [Designing Proactive Thought Partners for Writing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.01588/) (2026)
- [Interaction Techniques that Encourage Longer Prompts Can Improve Psychological Ownership when Writing with AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.03670/) (2025)
- [When AI Blurs the Boundaries of Contribution: An Empirical Study of Authorship Calibration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.15006/) (2026)
- ["Nobody Did This": Contribution, Originality, and Accountability in Agent-Mediated Collaboration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.26387/) (2026)
- [It Is Not My Code Anymore](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.09022/) (2026)
- [LLMs as Oracles: Reliance on LLMs for Subjective Personal Questions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.14849/) (2026)
- [When No One Owns the Judgment: Accountability Under Contribution Dissolution in Human-AI Collaboration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.29312/) (2026)
- [NarrativeSteward: Coordinating Delegation, Guidance, and Verification in Agent-Assisted Interactive Narrative Authoring](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.39333/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Human-AI interaction in text production increases complexity in authorship. In two empirical studies (n1 = 30 & n2 = 96), we investigate authorship and ownership in human-AI collaboration for personalized language generation. We show an AI Ghostwriter Effect: Users do not consider themselves the owners and authors of AI-generated text but refrain from publicly declaring AI authorship. Personalization of AI-generated texts did not impact the AI Ghostwriter Effect, and higher levels of participants' influence on texts increased their sense of ownership. Participants were more likely to attribute ownership to supposedly human ghostwriters than AI ghostwriters, resulting in a higher ownership-authorship discrepancy for human ghostwriters. Rationalizations for authorship in AI ghostwriters and human ghostwriters were similar. We discuss how our findings relate to psychological ownership and human-AI interaction to lay the foundations for adapting authorship frameworks and user interfaces in AI in text-generation tasks.