Canadian publisher Les Éditions du Boréal severed ties with novelist Thélyson Orélien on Wednesday after an investigation confirmed the author used artificial intelligence in his book.
The 38-year-old writer was dropped from the list for France’s Prix Goncourt literary prize last month. The novel at the centre of the controversy is titled C’était ça ou mourir, which translates to It Was Either That or Die.
Boréal initially stood by the Haitian Canadian author last week. The publishing house changed its position on Wednesday following an internal review.
A statement from Boréal said new information confirmed over the past few days indicated that artificial intelligence was used in the writing process. The firm announced it was ending its professional relationship with Orélien.
Boréal admitted it did not know the exact extent of the technology use and stated it would likely never have a definitive answer. The company gathered working versions of the book and hired an outside party to analyse various drafts.
Before launching this analysis, Boréal attempted to work with Orélien to gather evidence proving his innocence. That effort failed. The publisher stated that Orélien subsequently announced he would not provide any further information.
The migration themed novel had been scheduled for translation in more than 20 countries. Suspicion first surrounded the book when tests with an AI detector named Pangram indicated a 100 percent probability that it contained computer generated text.
Orélien previously denied the allegations, calling the claims slander and heresy in a statement sent earlier in the month. He admitted to using tools for research, particularly for foreign idioms. However, he insisted that no single sentence, meaning, or story structure in the book was created by a machine.
Orélien spoke to the French newspaper Libération on Wednesday to maintain his stance. He stated he used AI in the creative process strictly for historical research. He added that the situation had gone way too far and that his words no longer carried weight.
The author stated he began writing the book in late 2017. He completed a first draft of more than 300 pages in 2019, years before the arrival of services such as ChatGPT. Orélien fled his native Haiti after the 2010 earthquake.
In response to separate allegations of plagiarism, Orélien admitted to making unacceptable mistakes in his writing past. He noted he was young and impatient at the time, stating that admiring someone does not give anyone the right to claim external texts as their own.
