CP NewsAlert: Publisher cuts ties with Quebec author after finding evidence of AI use

Thélyson Orélien, a Haitian-Canadian author, faced major career setbacks after accusations emerged in September that his debut novel "C'était ça ou mourir" was largely generated by AI. The book, which won several literary prizes and was a favorite to win the prestigious Académie Goncourt award, had been analyzed using Pangram v.4, an AI detection tool with a false positive rate of just 0.0041%. Every page of Orélien's work came back as nearly 100% AI-generated.

In response to these claims and subsequent plagiarism allegations involving earlier works, Les Éditions du Boréal in Quebec decided on October 21st to cut ties with the author, stating they found evidence that AI was used while writing his debut novel. The publisher confirmed it would not reprint Orélien's book or publish any future works by him.

Initially, Orélien and the publisher had claimed to be investigating the allegations but later discontinued the process, leading to more scrutiny from critics and media outlets like La Presse in France, which published articles highlighting passages that were nearly identical to previously-published work by other authors.