Coin Press - Canadian publisher says novelist Orelien used AI to write novel

The top-selling author has denied allegations that he used AI on his breakthrough novel and, last week, Canadian publisher Boreal said it was standing by Orelien.

But on Wednesday, Boreal said it had conducted a further investigation into the allegations.

"New information, confirmed over the past few days, indicates that artificial intelligence was used in the writing process" of the novel, a Boreal statement said.

The publisher announced it was "ending its professional relationship" with Orelien.

Boreal said it did not know the extent of AI's use in the writing process "and we will likely never have a definitive answer."

It said it gathered all the working versions of the novel and hired an outside party to analyze the various drafts.

"The results obtained this week revealed traces of AI tags in the metadata of certain documents," Boreal said.

Before conducting this analysis, the publisher said it had tried to work with Orelien to gather the evidence necessary to prove his innocence.

That effort was inconclusive, and Orelien "subsequently announced that he would not provide any further information," the publisher said.

The novel about migration, known by its original French title "C'etait ca ou mourir," had been scheduled for translation in more than 20 countries.

The book was shrouded in suspicion and withdrawn from the shortlist for France's top book prize, the Goncourt, after tests with AI detector Pangram indicated a 100-percent probability it contained computer-generated text.

In a statement to AFP earlier this month, Orelien called the allegations "slander and heresy."

He said he started writing the book in late 2017 "on the corner of a table" and completed a first draft in 2019 of more than 300 pages, several years before the advent of AI services such as ChatGPT.

Orelien fled his native Haiti following a 2010 earthquake that struck the Caribbean island, already ravaged by poverty and unrest.

U.Ndiaye--CPN