AI Ghostwriter Effect

A phenomenon, first named by Draxler and colleagues, in which people who use AI writing assistants do not perceive themselves as authors or owners of the resulting text yet still publicly self-declare authorship. The effect persists even when personalization makes outputs stylistically faithful to the user. In accessibility contexts - especially AI-assisted Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), where generated text becomes the user's literal spoken voice - the ghostwriter effect raises ethical concerns about consent, authenticity, and whether interlocutors should be told that suggestions are AI-mediated. Designs that preserve user agency through partial acceptance, visible authorship cues, or user-tunable suggestions help mitigate the effect.