Prize-Winning Author Rejects Claim That AI Wrote His Debut Novel

A Canadian-Haitian writer whose debut novel has been hailed as one of the year's leading literary works is facing claims that he used artificial intelligence (AI) to create it. Thlyson Orlien, 38, recently received the Prix du Roman Fnac for C'tait a ou mourir (It Was Either That or Die). His first novel also appears on early lists for France's prestigious Goncourt and Renaudot prizes. On Tuesday, however, a little-known group called Balance ton Claude (Denounce your Claude, a reference to Anthropic's AI assistant) said the book was "almost totally" written by AI, an accusation the author rejected. "We tested several passages, from different bits of the manuscript, to come up with the identical result: 100 percent AI," the group wrote on X. The group, whose membership is unclear, said the detection was performed by a programme called Pangram, which it described as "by far the most accurate" and as having an almost negligible likelihood of error. Orlien, who was born in Haiti and moved to Montreal in 2010, denied the allegation immediately. "I have always loved creation and literature. I can't see why I would feel compelled to use a machine," he told Libération newspaper. He said he was "compiling a dossier" with his editor to prove that he wrote the book himself. "My traditions are Haitian and Caribbean. The images, the repetitions and the rhythms are the living word, they are my own," he said. The publishing house Grasset also came to his defence, saying the allegations "are atrociously injurious to a writer with an exceptional life-story" whose "work of creation is original and powerful." The novel tells the story of a teacher who escapes gang violence in Haiti and his adventures before he finally reaches Canada, where he rediscovers "the right to breathe without fear."