Goncourt Drops Novel After AI-Writing Claim — SkimNews
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- Académie Goncourt withdrew Thélyson Orélien's "C'était ça ou mourir" from its longlist after an anonymous X account called "Balance ton Claude" claimed the book was "almost entirely" written by AI, using Pangram detection software
- The anonymous account was identified as Samuel Fitoussi, a Le Figaro columnist against 'wokeism,' who said he acted because he feared 'AI will cause the disappearance of reading and writing'
- Other AI detection programs and French media found the book 'very probably' human-written, casting doubt on Pangram's accuracy and on Fitoussi's method
- Liberération separately alleged Orélien plagiarized an award-winning short story from the preface of Louis Pauwels' 1960 book 'The Morning of the Magicians' — accusations the Goncourt cited alongside the AI findings in its removal rationale
- Orélien, 38, denied the claims as 'racially motivated,' saying the attack targets 'my voice' and aims 'to silence me'; the novel had sold about 35,000 copies and won the Prix du roman Fnac
- The book's original Canadian publisher, Éditions du Boréal, said it could not confirm or deny the allegations but condemned the 'hateful messages and personal attacks' directed at Orélien
- The Goncourt shortlist will be published 6 October and the winner announced on 4 November
Why it matters: A bestselling, award-winning novel about Haitian migration has been disqualified from one of literature's most prestigious prizes largely on the basis of a single AI-detection tool whose accuracy is contested — and whose accuser turned out to be a newspaper columnist, not a neutral researcher, while separate plagiarism claims added a second, more concrete basis for removal.
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