‘A Doubt That Takes Easily’

This fall a literary scandal has erupted in France around a debut novel with a dramatic title—C’était ça ou mourir (“It Was Either That or Die”)—by the Haitian-Québécois author Thélyson Orélien. Orélien’s account of a Haitian migrant’s odyssey across South and North America made it onto the best-seller list and secured nominations for all the country’s major literary awards; it was set to be translated into over twenty languages. On September 21 the novel won the Prix du Roman Fnac, an award given by France’s largest book retailer.That same day a Twitter account called Balance ton Claude (Out your Claude) made a startling accusation. The account’s owners had run many sections of the book through the AI-detection program Pangram, they claimed, which showed widespread use of AI throughout the text. In a country where literature is still treated as a matter of national importance, the allegation got wall-to-wall media coverage and set off an acrimonious, highly politicized controversy. The prestigious Goncourt prize announced that the book had been withdrawn from consideration. Online, right-wing accounts targeted Orélien with racist invective. The Quebec newspaper La Presse reviewed ...