France's prestigious Goncourt prize drops novel after author accused of using AI

The organisers of the prestigious Goncourt literary prize said on ​Friday they had removed a smash-hit novel by ​Haitian-Canadian author Thelyson Orelien from their longlist ‌after ​accusations he used AI to write it. Orelien denied using AI to write "C'etait Ca ou Mourir" ("It Was Either That or Die") as the allegations ignited a debate about ‌race, literary merit and originality that has roiled the French literary establishment.

The accusations about AI use were made this week by a little-known X account "Balance ton Claude." Essayist Samuel Fitoussi later claimed ownership of the account, saying he managed it with ‌other unidentified individuals. The AI accusations were followed by reports that Orelien had committed plagiarism in earlier works. ‌La Presse said that a 2012 short story by Orelien had plagiarized passages from a book by French author Louis Pauwels, while a 2013 opinion piece copied from The Philippine Star newspaper.

Orelien has yet to respond to those accusations, and did not respond to a request ⁠for comment ​on Friday. The Paris-based Academie ⁠Goncourt said it had taken note of the AI and plagiarism accusations, and had decided to remove his novel "to preserve the integrity of ⁠the Goncourt Prize and that of the Academie, whose central role is to promote and honour literature written by women and ​men."

The Academie said it hoped its decision would show it was fully against the "creation of texts generated ⁠with the assistance of AI," adding it would make no further comment before October 6, when it will announce its shortlist. The debut novel by ⁠the ​Haitian-born author tells the story of a Haitian migrant who travels north through Latin America before ending up in Canada. It has won a host of other literary awards, and was due to be translated into ⁠multiple languages.

His French and Canadian publishers initially offered Orelien their full support over the AI allegations. They did not ⁠respond to requests for comment ⁠on Friday. "Balance ton Claude" said that running passages through AI detection tool Pangram showed the novel "was written almost entirely by artificial intelligence". Some experts say the reliability of AI ‌detection tools is ‌questionable.