Quebec Conservative Leader Éric Duhaime admits to using AI to write book

Éric Duhaime, the leader of the Quebec Conservative Party, admitted to utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) to assist in writing his latest book, titled "Destination Autonomie," which was published in April. During a Friday morning press conference, Duhaime explained that he employed AI as a "tool among others" to help structure his thoughts and ideas for the book.

According to Quebecor media outlets, which conducted an AI detection analysis using the Pangram software, 62% of the book's content was generated by AI. The introduction of the book, written by Conservative candidate Maïté Blanchette-Vézina, was entirely AI-generated. Blanchette-Vézina had previously switched parties to join Duhaime's Conservative movement following her dismissal from former Premier François Legault's Coalition Avenir Québec cabinet.

Duhaime's opponents during the campaign cycle played off the revelation concerning his book. Both Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, the leader of the Parti Québécois, and Charles Milliard, the leader of the Liberal Party, made jokes about whether Duhaime used AI to draft his party's platform. Coalition Avenir Québec's Christine Fréchette also made a political joke, suggesting that Duhaime found time to write the book with the assistance of AI.

Québec solidaire, another political party, posted a humorous social media post featuring Duhaime's co-spokesperson Ruba Ghazal searching for human-written sections of his work through a telescope. Duhaime has been a vocal supporter of AI during his campaign, arguing that it could help reduce bureaucratic inefficiencies. On Friday, he also admitted to using AI in his campaign materials, including the generation of charts, a table of contents, and the design layout of the Conservative Party's financial framework.

Duhaime stated, "Social progress has been achieved thanks to technology, not in spite of it. So, for us, it was a step forward for society, not a step backward." In his book, Duhaime explores how Quebec can achieve greater autonomy within the Canadian Confederation. Duhaime has authored four previous books, including one in 2017 called "La fin de l'homosexualité et le dernier gay" ("The end of homosexuality and the last gay man"), where he discussed his own coming out as gay.

Throughout his political career, Duhaime has written books criticizing labor unions, baby boomers, and the monopoly of Quebec's government-owned liquor corporation.