AI authorship claims put French literary hit under scrutiny

A novel topping French sales charts and nominated for prestigious literary prizes is facing questions over whether it was written with artificial intelligence. ERR reports that the controversy has raised broader questions about the future of literature and authorship.

Haitian-Quebec writer Thelyson Oreliani’s debut novel, “C’était ça ou mourir” (“It was this or die”), was published in August by a small Quebec publisher. It quickly found success in France and was nominated for almost all of the country’s prestigious literary awards.

Translator Triinu Tamm said allegations that the novel was AI-generated began circulating a few weeks ago. Some in France have described the claims as a racist attack on Oreliani, who is Black and from Haiti, but questions about the book remain unresolved.

Tamm said AI was already having a clear impact on literature. “There will certainly be more mediocrity. It’s inevitable; that’s what AI produces,” she said.

Writer Kaur Riismaa said AI was changing the position of the writer as author, though collaborative creation was not new. He compared it with Renaissance workshops, where a leading artist might paint the figures and set the style and composition while pupils added details. Yet, he noted, the work could still bear the name of Leonardo da Vinci.

Riismaa has also used AI. When he won an essay prize from the Estonian Cultural Endowment two years ago under the name Nora Maria London, the prize was accepted by an AI avatar of a young woman created by the writer.

He described AI-generated literature as convenient and uniformly mediocre. Riismaa warned that cuts to library support and uncertainty over cultural funding could mean that, in ten years, people might no longer be able to read literature more complex than AI-generated works.