Former French literary prize nominee denies AI use, admits to plagiarism

Author Orélien, who was previously nominated for a prestigious French literary prize, has denied using artificial intelligence to write his novel, C'était ça ou mourir. While he admitted to committing plagiarism in earlier works, describing those acts as unforgivable mistakes from his past, he maintains that his latest book was written entirely by hand. The controversy began after an anonymous user on the social media platform X used analysis software called Pangram to test the manuscript, resulting in a claim that the text was created entirely by AI.

Following these accusations, the Académie Goncourt decided to revoke the author's nomination to protect the integrity of the award. The organization cited multiple analyses from researchers and journalists suggesting the content was likely generated by artificial intelligence. Despite these claims, Orélien and his publisher are currently preparing a formal defense to demonstrate that the novel is indeed an original human creation, continuing to contest the findings of the software used against him.