{"id":908427,"date":"2026-09-24T23:22:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T23:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/908427\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T23:22:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T23:22:13","slug":"was-this-award-winning-book-written-by-ai-scandal-deepens-skepticism-in-literary-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/908427\/","title":{"rendered":"Was this award-winning book written by AI? Scandal deepens skepticism in literary world"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Quebec-based author is at the centre of an artificial intelligence scandal shaking the French literary world and raising questions around how the industry should be using AI \u2014 and its detection tools.<\/p>\n

Breakthrough star Th\u00e9lyson Or\u00e9lien, a Canadian-Haitian poet and author, has been accused of writing his debut novel using generative AI, which he vehemently denies. The scandal comes as C\u2019\u00e9tait \u00e7a ou mourir is being considered for various prestigious awards.<\/p>\n

The allegation first surfaced Monday \u2013 the same day Or\u00e9lien won the Prix du roman Fnac \u2013 on the anonymous X account “Balance ton Claude,” which claims to expose AI slop.<\/p>\n

The account claims to have analyzed several excerpts from the book using the AI-detector tool Pangram, which found the text was \u201c100 per cent\u201d AI.\u00a0<\/p>\n

CBC News replicated the Pangram experiment with different excerpts of the book, which led to the same result.<\/p>\n

Speaking to franceinfo <\/a>Wednesday, the president of the Acad\u00e9mie Goncourt, which shortlisted Or\u00e9lien for an award, said the latter wouldn\u2019t be disqualified unless \u201cirrefutable evidence\u201d were to surface.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe academy is taking the time to consider the various factors involved in this case before making a decision that will preserve both the integrity of the prize it awards and that of its work,\u201d Claudel Philippe told CBC in a statement Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The executive director of Writers\u2019 Trust of Canada, David Leonard, says the question of how trustworthy these AI-detection tools are is an issue the entire industry is grappling with. For now, the organization, which recognizes local writers, relies on self-declarations made by the authors.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s exploring its options, he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a very fast-moving issue,\u201d Leonard said. \u201cWe don’t want to be in a situation where we’re getting false positives, nor do we want to be in a situation where we’re using a tool that is not effective.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Thursday afternoon, Or\u00e9lien’s Montreal-based publishing house, \u00c9ditions du Bor\u00e9al, announced it was suspending its press tour for the author, who is currently in France gearing up for award season.<\/p>\n

“We unreservedly condemn the hateful messages and personal attacks of recent days and call on everyone to exercise restraint,” it wrote in a statement. <\/p>\n

It adds that its decision is to preserve Or\u00e9lien’s well-being and that the book, which was published in the spring, remains available.<\/p>\n

WATCH | Allegations of plagiarism surface against Quebec-based author:\"\"<\/p>\n

Award-winning Quebec author accused of using AI for bestselling book<\/p>\n

In recent months, Th\u00e9lyson Or\u00e9lien became a sensation for his debut novel C’\u00e9tait \u00e7a ou mourir, which follows a teacher escaping gang violence in Haiti\u2019s Port-au-Prince. After the book won a prestigious award on Monday, an anonymous X account accused Or\u00e9lien of using AI to write it, which he vehemently denies. Since then, other allegations of plagiarism have surfaced against the author.What happened? <\/p>\n

C’\u00e9tait \u00e7a ou mourir, which translates to “It was either that or die” tells the story of a man who undertakes a perilous journey across the Americas to escape gang violence in Haiti\u2019s Port-au-Prince.<\/p>\n

Or\u00e9lien has previously said his own experience of leaving Haiti following the 2010 earthquake and stories of other migrants he met in Montreal helped shape the novel.<\/p>\n

In a statement Tuesday evening, he attempted to soothe the scrutiny of his heavy use of metaphors and similes in the book, which many have pointed to as tells that AI was involved in the writing process.<\/p>\n

“I come from a Haitian and Caribbean literary tradition in which poetry, imagery, repetition, and rhythm carry a living voice,” Or\u00e9lien said in the statement written in French and released by \u00c9ditions du Bor\u00e9al.<\/p>\n

“One might debate my style, but treating its techniques as evidence of artificial intelligence has nothing to do with literary criticism,” he said.<\/p>\n

In the same statement, \u00c9ditions du Bor\u00e9al affirmed its support for the author, saying Or\u00e9lien’s manuscript was drafted several years ago and evolved over multiple exchanges with his editor.<\/p>\n

However, new allegations have cast doubt on Or\u00e9lien’s credibility beyond the fiction-writing sphere.<\/p>\n

\"CopiesCopies of the novel C’\u00e9tait \u00e7a ou mourir, which translates to “It was either that or die,” by Th\u00e9lyson Or\u00e9lien are displayed on a bookstore table in Paris on Sept. 23, 2026. The quote highlighted on the cover underlines the strength of the text. (Hans Lucas\/AFP via Getty Images)Allegations of plagiarism<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the Quebec newspaper La Presse uncovered multiple instances of possible plagiarism <\/a>in Or\u00e9lion\u2019s columns across different publications dating back to 2012. Radio-Canada’s D\u00e9crypteurs has since verified those findings.<\/p>\n

Or\u00e9lien has not addressed the compounding scandal.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Radio-Canada\u2019s Tout un matin Thursday morning, La Presse\u2019s vice-president of information, Fran\u00e7ois Cardinal said he read the book \u2013 stopping short of calling it \u201cincredible\u201d \u2013 and at no point suspected the involvement of AI.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll never have a definitive answer on AI one way or the other. We can\u2019t prove beyond all doubt that AI was used. And we can\u2019t prove that AI wasn\u2019t used,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But given the plagiarism allegations, he said the publication will likely not consider Or\u00e9lien for future columns.<\/p>\n

In an update Thursday morning, \u00c9ditions du Bor\u00e9al said it was taking stock of the newest and “very serious” plagiarism allegations.<\/p>\n

Thursday afternoon, the literary festival Salon du livre in the Eastern Townships announced it was dropping Or\u00e9lien as its guest of honour.<\/p>\n

A few hours later, \u00c9ditions du Bor\u00e9al announced its suspension of Or\u00e9lien’s press tour. <\/p>\n

In its latest statement, it continued to defend its editorial process, adding that despite its best efforts to produce a “definitive answer” as to whether the book was written by AI, the publishing house says it is simply “impossible at this stage to confirm or deny the allegations.”<\/p>\n

“The fact remains that the novel has reached tens of thousands of readers across the French-speaking world, as well as numerous international publishers,” reads the statement. “In the absence of serious, tangible evidence, it is not for us to decide whether it has the right to exist.”<\/p>\n

Tools detect AI, not ideas<\/p>\n

For Florent Michelot, a Concordia professor who researches AI in education, Or\u00e9lien\u2019s ordeal raises a key question: Have we entered an era where the final product is no longer enough when judging someone\u2019s work?<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t read the book, but maybe [Or\u00e9lien] developed very complex personalities for his characters, maybe he developed a wonderful atmosphere \u2026 and the AI only helped to write the sentences,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Michelot says he’s personally tested Pangram, the AI-detector tool, and like many other experts who have spoken out since the controversy broke, he says the tool is “amazing.”<\/p>\n

Basically, the tool identifies patterns based on probability, he explains. If every word in an excerpt is statistically the most likely word to follow the one before it, then AI was most likely involved in the writing, according to the tool.<\/p>\n

So, as more people lean on AI for things like research, spellcheck and translations, Michelot wonders if the creative process will begin to gain more value over the finished product.<\/p>\n

\"AA screengrab of AI-detection tool Pangram’s analysis after CBC presented it with an excerpt from Th\u00e9lyson Or\u00e9lien’s novel C’\u00e9tait \u00e7a ou mourir. (Cassandra Yanez-Leyton\/CBC)Humans reading humans<\/p>\n

For French literature professor Emeline Pierre, who teaches at the Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al, the controversy has created a sense of unease, she says. The questions of why Or\u00e9lien was targeted and why now are central to how she’s digesting the situation.<\/p>\n

Regardless, she puts in doubt the reliability of AI-detecting tools. As for the repetitions and metaphors in Or\u00e9lien’s text, she says they are characteristic of writing styles in the Caribbean.<\/p>\n

“Once again, we see the journey of a Black person who makes their mark. And when that person perhaps goes too far \u2014 garners too much recognition \u2014 it seems to me that they eventually become a source of discomfort,” she said.<\/p>\n

She says the attention the controversy has garnered harkens back to the case of Jason Arday<\/a>, a Cambridge professor who gained prominence after becoming the university’s youngest professor in 2023 at age 37.<\/p>\n

He was found dead inside his apartment after becoming the focus of a plagiarism scandal.<\/p>\n

Pierre worries about the effect the Or\u00e9lien story will have on emerging young Black writers, adding that the speed with which scandals seem to close in on their subject when they\u2019re Black is worrisome.<\/p>\n

\"Canadian-HaitianOr\u00e9lien left Haiti for Quebec after the 2010 earthquake. According to La Presse, a Quebec-based publication for which he’s written a few columns, he lives between Montreal and Ottawa. (Joel Saget \/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The executive director of the Writers’ Trust of Canada says despite the controversy and AI\u2019s seemingly growing writing proficiency, it\u2019s not the future of literature itself he\u2019s worried about, but the viability of writing as a career.<\/p>\n

He says many authors support themselves by taking on other types of writing jobs and those are being eliminated by AI.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo these tools are making it much more difficult for writers to make a living,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ll continue to write literature, and people wanting to read human-authored works will continue to want to read human-authored works.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Quebec-based author is at the centre of an artificial intelligence scandal shaking the French literary world and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":908428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[62,276,277,49,48,61],"class_list":["post-908427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=908427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/908427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/908428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=908427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=908427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=908427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}