Thélyson Orélien denies AI allegations following novel success

Thélyson Orélien, a Canadian-Haitian author, is facing a major literary controversy following the success of his debut novel, ‘C’était ça ou mourir’. On the same day he was awarded the Prix du Roman Fnac 2026, an anonymous X account named ‘Balance ton Claude’ alleged that the book was ‘almost entirely’ generated by artificial intelligence, citing results from the Pangram detection software.

The allegations have gone viral, garnering millions of views and sparking intense debate regarding the authenticity of literary works in the age of AI. While some detection tools suggested high probabilities of machine generation, others, including AFP’s InVID-WeVerify, indicated the text was ‘very probably written by a human.’

Orélien has vehemently denied the claims, stating, ‘I have always loved creation and writing, I see no reason to call upon a machine.’ He noted that his writing style incorporates Haitian and Caribbean rhythms that might be misinterpreted by algorithms trained on classical French traditions. His publishers, Grasset in France and Boréal in Canada, have expressed full confidence in his work, with Grasset describing the accusations as a ‘malicious campaign.’