French cultural debate on AI-written novels after accusations against Thélyson Orélien's book

It was, as they say, only a matter of time.

Since last week, the French cultural debate has been dominated by the news that the autumn's most talked-about book is likely not written by a human. At least not in the way we imagine a writer.

Thélyson Orélien's novel "C'était ça ou mourir" had in a short time sold just over 35,000 copies and been awarded Fnac's prize for novel of the year - an award that usually generates commercial success - when an anonymous account on social media claimed that it was written with the help of artificial intelligence.

The account was soon revealed to belong to a journalist at the conservative newspaper Le Figaro. He had run the text through a program designed to detect AI elements in text - and received the answer that certain parts of the book "one hundred percent" were authored by generative AI.

Thélyson Orélien is a Haitian writer who now lives in Canada. His novel, whose title means "It was this or die", is about a migrant who makes the same journey. It has been praised and smeared by some of the biggest names in French literature before the AI ​​allegations surfaced. In other words, the story had everything to quickly leave the literary debate and land in the culture war: A black man who seduced publishers and readers with a story about a Caribbean refugee and is rewarded with a place on the finest literary program on television has in fact probably cheated.

There are right-wing sweets here, so it should last until Halloween.

Thélyson Orélien denies the accusations, which quickly turned into unabashed racism in many quarters.

The true nature of the book's AI elements may never be fully established, but the Goncourt Prize – France's finest literary award – quickly withdrew the book from nominations.

In Isabella Nilsson's latest novel "Om varmhållning av levande dead" the narrator becomes enamored of a long quote attributed to Virginia Woolf, without her being able to find the original source.

A quick look on the internet shows that she is not alone in wondering. The piece is by all accounts an AI product. "Maybe it doesn't do much? Or does it change everything?" asks Isabella Nilsson and puts her finger on what the literary debate will revolve around in the coming years.

Halfway into "C'était ça ou mourir" I'm completely hooked. The language literally sings over the pages, the plot is sometimes so dense that it barely leaves room to breathe. Sure, a somewhat overloaded metaphor here and there and a very poetic dialogue between migrants can be discerned. As with most debutantes with ambitions.

If Thélyson Orélien "cheated", it is sensationally well done.

The French writer Sébastien Bailly, who himself is open to using AI in the writing process, writes in Le Monde that we will be forced to accept these elements in literature

There is no shortage of books that have been revealed to be pure AI products, but these have mostly concerned texts with lower claims. Possibly "C'était ça ou mourir" is the first prize-winning novel created in this way. It has captivated tens of thousands of readers over the past month in France. Will they suddenly feel cheated?

The idea of ​​the presence of the machine has long been integrated into music and the visual arts. The French writer Sébastien Bailly, who himself is open to using AI in the writing process, writes in Le Monde that we will be forced to accept these elements in literature as well. He urges all writers to be transparent. Being an AI writer is not, Bailly argues, watching while the computer writes your novel.

"A book needs raw material beyond the machine: ideas, testimonies, places, names, details. Heart. Then you create the narrative and find its rhythm. Above all, someone has to decide what stays and what is cut or rewritten."

The author as a kind of creative editor, then, who scoops from a well of millions of human-made works - samples them, indeed, but without paying for copyright - and puts his signature on the final product. It is something different from a traditional writer, that is probably what most people agree on. But then what is it? The answer to that question probably changes most of what we think we know about literature.