Uproar in France over award-winning author accused of using AI
3 hours ago
- Canadian-Haitian author Thélyson Orélien has been accused by a group called Balance ton Claude of using AI to write his award-winning novel 'C'était ça ou mourir', which won the Prix du Roman Fnac and is a finalist for the Goncourt and Renaudot prizes.
- The group claimed that multiple passages from the manuscript were tested and found to be '100 percent AI' using a detection programme called Pangram, which they say has an almost negligible error rate.
- Orélien denied the accusation, saying he loves creation and literature, and is compiling a dossier with his editor to prove the book's authenticity; his publisher Grasset also defended him, calling the allegations injurious to a writer with an exceptional life story.
- The novel tells the story of a teacher fleeing gang violence in Haiti and his journey to Canada, and is a bestseller in Canada with translations planned in about 20 languages.
- The controversy echoes a previous case involving Trinidadian writer Jamir Nazir, whose prize was withdrawn and then re-awarded after allegations of AI use were dismissed.
- Critics argue that AI-detectors like Pangram are unreliable, as they look for patterns and can falsely flag human writing or miss AI-generated text, especially when dialects like Caribbean French or English are used.
- The debate highlights growing questions about the acceptable mix of human and AI creativity in literature, as AI tools become more common.
- Orélien's first draft was written in 2019, before mainstream AI text generators became widely available, which he offers as evidence of his authorship.