Prix Goncourt winner admits using AI
The gist
French novelist Philippe Jaenada said he used AI "three times" in his Prix Goncourt-winning book.
His admission follows the prize's removal of another novel over AI suspicions.
How it unfolded
- Sep 24, 2026An anonymous X account, "Balance ton Claude," alleged that Thélyson Orélien's novel C'était ça ou mourir was AI-written, citing the Pangram detector, which found the text "100 per cent" AI; CBC replicated the test with other excerpts and got the same result.
- Sep 25, 2026The Académie Goncourt said it removed Orélien's novel from its 16-book longlist, based on analysis by "credible" researchers and journalists that the book "is in all likelihood largely the product of artificial intelligence."
- Oct 13, 2026Orélien apologized for claiming "as my own texts that are not mine" but said it was "slander and heresy" to claim he used AI to write parts of the novel.
Key terms
- Prix Goncourt
- A prestigious French literary prize awarded annually to the author of the best imaginative prose work of the year.
- Académie Goncourt
- A French literary organization founded in 1882 that awards the Prix Goncourt and other literary prizes.
Source: Wikipedia