"It Was That or Death": A Quebec Novel Suspected of Being Written by AI

Haitian-born Quebec writer Thélyson Orélien is accused of using artificial intelligence to write his first novel, "It Was That or Die," according to FRANCE 24.

The book, acclaimed by critics, is one of the bestsellers of the literary season and has already received the FNAC prize, while being on the list of works in the running for the prestigious Goncourt Prize.

The charges are based on the results produced by the Pangram detection tool, a software designed to identify texts generated by artificial intelligence models.

The controversy raises the question of the reliability of this type of tool, the results of which are increasingly used to assess the authenticity of literary works, without an established consensus on their accuracy.

The critical and commercial success of the novel made the controversy all the more sensitive, as the publishing world wondered how to verify the origin of the texts submitted for literary prizes.

Orélien has not, according to the reported elements, publicly confirmed the accusations against him, and the case continues to fuel the debate on the place of artificial intelligence in literary creation.