Canadian publisher drops author Orélien after confirming AI use in his debut novel

Canadian publisher Boréal said on Wednesday it is ending its professional relationship with Haitian-Canadian writer Thélyson Orélien. The decision follows an inquiry by the publisher that confirmed artificial intelligence was used in writing his novel “C’était ça ou mourir” (“It Was Either That or Die”). The book, about migration, was a bestseller and had been scheduled for translation in more than 20 countries.

How the publisher reached its conclusion

Last week Boréal had said it was standing by the author. It now says new information, confirmed over the past few days, shows AI was involved in the writing process. The publisher collected all working versions of the novel and hired an outside party to analyse the drafts. Results received this week revealed traces of AI tags in the metadata of certain documents.

Before the analysis, Boréal said it had tried to work with Orélien to gather evidence proving his innocence. That effort was inconclusive, and the author subsequently announced he would provide no further information. The publisher acknowledged it does not know how extensively AI was used and will likely never have a definitive answer.

Suspicions and the author’s response

The book had already been under suspicion. It was withdrawn from the shortlist for the Goncourt, France’s top book prize, after tests with the AI detector Pangram indicated a 100-percent probability that it contained computer-generated text.

In a statement to AFP earlier this month, Orélien called the allegations “slander and heresy”. He said he began writing the book in late 2017 “on the corner of a table” and finished a first draft of more than 300 pages in 2019, several years before AI services such as ChatGPT appeared. Orélien fled his native Haiti after the 2010 earthquake.