Canadian and French publishers stand by author accused of using AI for prize-winning novel
The publisher defended the author as the book passed 35,000 copies sold and the accusation drew scrutiny over AI detectors’ reliability.
- On Monday, September 21, 2026, an anonymous X account called "Balance ton Claude" alleged that Quebec author Thélyson Orélien's novel *C'était ça ou mourir* was written by artificial intelligence, sparking controversy over the bestselling work.
- The account used the US-based Pangram detection tool to analyze passages, claiming it returned "the same result: 100% AI" and asserting the software is "by far the most reliable AI detector" with a "false-positive rate of 0.0041%."
- Publisher Grasset renewed "their absolute confidence" in the author on Tuesday, while Orélien defended his writing as stemming from "a Haitian and Caribbean literary tradition" with its own poetics and devices.
- The novel remains on initial longlists for the Goncourt, Femina, and Renaudot prizes; late Tuesday, the anonymous collective posted a message urging readers to "go easy on the attacks against Thélyson Orélien."
- Writer François Negroni argues that unique literary forms like "creolised" French "doesn't fit into the boxes" of standard software training, while stressing he "doesn't know" whether the work used AI.
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68 Articles
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Canadian and French publishers stand by author accused of using AI for prize-winning novel
The publishers of an award-winning novel by Haitian-Canadian author Thelyson Orelien have defended the writer against accusations he used artificial intelligence to write it, and said they stand behind him.
Since Monday, the Quebec novelist born in Haiti, author of "C的was that or dying", a novel that allows a vibrant identification to migrants, is in turmoil because of an anonymous message about XSince Monday, Thélyson Orélien, author of a novel on migration that raises an exceptional public enthusiasm and critical (including the undersigned) is at the heart of the torment. A few hours after receiving Monday's FNAC novel prize, he was accused of ha…
An anonymous X account caused an earthquake after accusing Thélyson Orélien of having used AI to write 'It was that or die', FNAC novel award and pre-selected for the Goncourt Read
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