The Last Uncoded
There was a time when Ben could write anything.
A dating profile for a lonely tech bro.
A memoir for a retired cop.
Business plans, pitch decks, eBooks, speeches, Instagram captions.
He ghostwrote them all.
It was good work. Not glamorous — but it paid the bills.
He got to help people say things they couldn’t say for themselves.
He listened. He understood.
He shaped voices.
And no one knew he was there.
That was part of the deal.
Then the requests slowed down.
Clients didn’t need “light editing” anymore. They had Olivia.
Startups didn’t want a copywriter. They had templates and tone adjusters.
Biographies became auto-generated timelines.
Blogs wrote themselves.
One client told him:
“You’re great, Ben, but AI’s like 85% as good… and it’s free.”
He didn’t argue.
He just nodded.
What was he going to say — “I write better than a bot”?
Even if it were true, no one cared.
He still tried.
Still pitched. Still offered “real human polish.”
Still sent rates that kept dropping.
But after a while, it was clear:
Ben was becoming a luxury.
And most people couldn’t afford luxury.
Or didn’t want to.
Now he stacks boxes at a warehouse.
And sometimes, when no one’s watching,
he scribbles notes in his phone.
Stories that no one’s asked for.
Written in a voice that doesn’t come from code.
His voice.
Blog: Ghostwriting in the Age of Ghosts
Ben isn’t real. But his story is.
Freelancers, copywriters, bloggers, marketers, authors, and consultants —
all of them are watching as AI eats the very thing they built careers on: language.
Once, having a way with words was enough.
Now, it’s just another feature on an app.
📉 What’s Happening
AI is now capable of:
Writing SEO-optimized blog posts
Generating ad copy in seconds
Creating full eBooks from bullet points
Translating, rewriting, summarizing, even joking
Mimicking tone and voice across platforms
The tools are fast, scalable, and always on.
They don’t get tired. They don’t charge by the hour.
And they’re “good enough” for most business needs.
👻 What It’s Replacing
People like Ben.
The ones who:
Captured nuance
Understood subtext
Gave people a voice they didn’t know they had
Knew when not to say something
These are soft skills — but they’re still human skills.
And while AI may imitate them, it doesn’t live them.
⚠️ What’s At Risk
We’re not just losing jobs.
We’re losing trust in the need for human expression.
If everyone outsources their voice,
what happens to truth? To originality?
To the people whose job was to listen deeply and speak clearly?
When everyone becomes a brand and every brand has an AI voice…
what’s left to be said?
🧭 What Can You Do?
If you’re a writer (or any creative), this isn’t about fighting AI.
It’s about redefining value.
Highlight the human work AI can’t do: interviews, emotional arcs, truth-telling
Niche down — generalists are easiest to replace
Offer storytelling, not just “writing”
Show people the cost of sounding “AI-polished” but soul-less
The future won’t be voice-free.
But it might be human-free — unless we make the case for ourselves.
Written by humans. Powered by Olivia.
For the ones whose voices still matter.
BDC Insights
