French literary prize removes novel from longlist after AI claims
The organisers of France's top literary prize, the Prix Goncourt, on Friday said they had removed a widely praised novel by a Canadian-Haitian writer from its longlist following online claims that artificial intelligence was used to write it.
On September 21, an anonymous X account named Balance ton Claude alleged that Thélyson Orélien's debut novel "C était ça ou mourir" was entirely written by artificial intelligence. The novel, which has sold over 35,000 copies, is in contention for several prestigious French literary prizes. The accusations were based on tests conducted using the highly sensitive US tool Pangram, which claims a false-positive rate of only 0.0041%.
The 38-year-old Haitian author, known for his poetry, has been accused of repeating patterns typical of AI-generated text. However, Orélien's publisher Grasset and the author himself deny the claims, stating that the repetitions are part of a Haitian and Caribbean literary tradition. Orélien argues that accusing his work of AI involvement is an attack on literary criticism, while Grasset maintains its continued confidence in the author.
Journalists and critics have responded to the controversy with mixed opinions, with some defending the novel's unique style and others finding it mediocre and repetitive.
Written by urgent.news from Euronews's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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