It's the hot-button topic at the Frankfurt Book Fair: How profoundly will artificial intelligence transform the book industry, and how can this transformation be regulated?
Given the warnings about the technology's long-term risks to humanity as a whole, such debates might seem rather narrow in scope. In reality, however, they concern very concrete issues — copyright protection, the power of major tech corporations and the future of creative work. Many of those involved agree that the political measures taken don't go far enough.
This year, however, another aspect has entered the debate: Can we actually recognize when a text has been written with the help of artificial intelligence, and how can it be proven?
These are the questions being asked in the current literary scandal surrounding Haitian-Canadian author Thélyson Orélien. His debut novel, "C'était ça ou mourir," (It Was Either That or Die) was published in Canada in the spring and then in France in late summer.
The migration story was universally acclaimed, with translation rights sold in more than 20 languages. The book even made the longlist for the prestigious Prix Goncourt.
Then, suddenly, allegations emerged that the book had been written almost entirely using AI. Orélien, until then a rising literary star, suddenly found himself branded a fraud, despite denying all the allegations. His nomination for the Prix Goncourt was withdrawn.
So, who should we believe now — the author or the AI that claims to have identified AI-generated writing?
When the origins of texts become uncertain
"We will have to learn to live with doubt," says Hannes Bajohr, a professor of German literature at the University of California, Berkeley.
He has spent years examining how AI is changing both writing and reading. His prediction: If the origins of texts can no longer be reliably established, we will have to evaluate them differently. What matters will be their quality alone, rather than whether AI was used in the writing process.
Nina George, a best-selling author and honorary president of the European Writers' Council, is unwilling to accept this.
At the Frankfurt Book Fair, she was awarded the Friedrich Perthes Prize in recognition of her commitment to issues including AI and copyright.
George has addressed the European Parliament and the German Bundestag, and speaks and writes tirelessly about the dangers of AI models. It is perverse, she says, that an author should suddenly have to prove that their writing is human. The focus of her campaigning remains the large corporations' self-serving mentality and the protection of copyright.
Can anyone become an author with AI?
But what if an author sees AI not as an enemy, but as a tool that makes writing easier?
American author and artist Luke Stoffel deliberately used AI in his memoir, "How To Win One Million Dollars" and "Shit Glitter," and was open about doing so.
"I'm dyslexic," he says in a video interview. "I've always written and made up stories, but I never dared to take them any further."
It was only with the help of AI, he says, that he was able to fulfill his dream. The technology drew his attention to weaknesses in his writing and suggested a marketing strategy that actually worked.
Then, in May 2026, he received an award from the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) for the book.
For South African author Coral Hart, AI is actually the foundation of her business model. Publishing under various pseudonyms, she releases more than 200 different novels every year, spanning romance, thrillers and mystery, all independently published.
She sees herself as an ideas person, as well as an editor and publisher. Although none of her books has yet become a bestseller, the business is profitable. According to Hart, each of her books reaches more than 5,000 people.
Many publishers already working with AI
New York-based author Luke Stoffel considers the entire debate hypocritical. Many publishers have been working with AI tools for some time. He's certain that "right now, a million-copy bestseller is being printed that was created with the help of AI. The author won't admit it, and then there'll be a scandal."
It is entirely possible that the scandal surrounding Thélyson Orélien is precisely that story. But we may never know for sure.
For now, the battle against the tech giants continues. Even the companies themselves are increasingly concerned about losing control.
At the very start of the fair, the German Publishers and Booksellers Association issued an appeal to policymakers in Berlin and Brussels, calling for stricter regulation of artificial intelligence, more urgently than ever before. More than 150 publishers have already signed it.
But for now, it remains just an appeal. And the question of what authors themselves should be permitted to do with AI will undoubtedly continue to fuel debate in the future.
