France’s Goncourt prize drops a novel over claims AI wrote it

The Académie Goncourt has dropped Thélyson Orélien’s novel C’était ça ou mourir from the first selection for France’s top literary prize. In a statement on Friday, the academy cited plagiarism by the author and analyses showing that AI had most likely written most of the book.

Orélien denies using AI, Philip Oltermann reported for the Guardian. His debut follows a Haitian migrant who travels through Latin America before reaching Canada, Reuters reported.

What the academy said

The academy pointed to “the convergent result of several analyses by trustworthy researchers and journalists”. It said they showed the novel is “in all likelihood very largely the product of an artificial intelligence”. It also cited plagiarism that the author had committed over time, which had just come to light. The quotes are TNW’s translation of the French statement.

The academy said its role is “to promote and crown literature written by women and men”. It wanted to send a clear message to the students of the Goncourt des Lycéens, the prisoners of the Goncourt des Détenus and more than 50 Choix Goncourt juries abroad.

“We neither endorse nor give our blessing in any way to the creation of texts generated with the help of AI,” the academy said.

It will make no further comment and will publish its second selection on 6 October. The winner is due on 4 November, according to the Guardian.

Philippe Claudel, the academy’s president, had urged caution over the AI claims on Wednesday, the Guardian reported. The plagiarism reports that followed appeared to change the academy’s view.

How the claims started

An anonymous X account called Balance ton Claude, a reference to Anthropic’s AI, posted the accusation on 21 September. That was the same day the novel won the Prix du roman Fnac. The account said it ran the book through Pangram, an AI detection tool. It claimed AI wrote the novel “almost entirely”.

Le Figaro identified one of its own columnists, essayist Samuel Fitoussi, as the person behind the account. Fitoussi later said he ran it with other people, according to Reuters.

Some experts question how reliable AI detection tools are, Reuters reported. French media found other detectors that rated the novel as very probably human-written, according to the Guardian.

The plagiarism claims came next. Libération reported that a 2012 prize-winning short story by Orélien copied a preface by Louis Pauwels. La Presse also reported that a 2013 opinion piece copied from The Philippine Star, according to Reuters.

The author and his publisher respond

Orélien, 38, calls the AI allegation racially motivated. He told Libération that the novel’s rhythms come from Haitian and Caribbean language traditions.

“The imagery, repetition and rhythm are a living language, they are mine,” Orélien told Libération.

He has not answered the plagiarism claims. He did not respond to a Reuters request for comment on Friday.

Grasset published the novel in France in August. It has sold about 35,000 copies, and publishers in more than 20 countries have bought translation rights, the Guardian reported. Its original Canadian publisher, Éditions du Boréal, told the Guardian it could not confirm or deny the allegations. It voiced concern about the plagiarism claims and condemned “the hateful messages and personal attacks of recent days”.

Elsewhere in publishing, Anthropic has agreed a copyright settlement with book authors. In music, AI tracks have reached the charts, and Hollywood studios now want film graduates who already use AI.