Zimbabwean author Simbarashe Kundizeza cleared of using AI to write prize-winning story
After a month-long investigation it was concluded that Kundizeza’s story The Blue Fighter, which won the £10,000 Caine prize, was ‘human-written’ Zimbabwean author Simbarashe Kundizeza has been cleared of using AI to write a prize-winning short story, after the prestigious Caine prize for African writers concluded that his entry was “human-written” after a month-long investigation. Kundizeza’s…
After a month-long investigation, it was concluded that Zimbabwean author Simbarashe Kundizeza's prize-winning short story, "The Blue Fighter," was indeed written by a human. The Caine prize for African writers announced Kundizeza as the winner of the £10,000 prize on October 6th. However, just five days later, an article in The Atlantic claimed that AI-detection software Pangram had deemed the story almost entirely AI-generated.
Kundizeza had strongly denied using generative AI to write the story. The Caine prize chair, Ellah Wakatama, stated that after a detailed investigation, the evidence pointed to the story being human-written. The investigation included interviews with the author, the 2026 judging panel, and the publication where the story first appeared.
Kundizeza expressed relief at the outcome of the investigation, stating that it was not necessary to begin with and that he was happy to move on from the allegations.
Written by urgent.news from The Guardian's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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