The Goncourt Prize Philippe Jaenada defends his “amused” and “ironic” use of AI, in a letter sent to AFP
The writer wanted to cut short any controversy after the sidelining of Thélyson Orélien.
Quick Look
The writer Philippe Jaenada, winner of the 2026 Goncourt Prize, defends the very limited and ironic use of artificial intelligence in his novel 'L'Inconnue du quai de Javel', following the controversy surrounding Thélyson Orélien.
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Why It Matters
The use of artificial intelligence in literature has sparked debate, particularly after the sidelining of Thélyson Orélien.
French writer Philippe Jaenada, winner of the 2026 Goncourt Prize for L'Inconnue du quai de Javel, wanted to put an end to any controversy by defending, on Friday November 6, an "amused", "ironic" and very limited use of artificial intelligence in his book after the sidelining of the writer Thélyson Orélien for his use of AI.
“It is ridiculously absurd to think for half a second that I used generative AI to write anything in this book,” argued the author in a press release sent to AFP by his publishing house, Flammarion, where he details how he used this technology.
“The amused or ironic, above all assumed, use of AI was also part of my project before I even started writing,” he insisted.
Philippe Jaenada has repeated having used AI only three times for his novel about the unsolved murder of a young Breton woman at the end of the 1940s, which received the Goncourt Prize and in which he also discusses the use of this technology.
The author first asked two artificial intelligence chatbots "what dries faster at night, at 17 degrees, with little wind: the long hair of a young brunette woman or the Parisian pavement?", he says in the press release.
“The software provides me with caricaturedly precise, therefore stupid, and contradictory answers,” he adds.
The writer then used AI in a more traditional way to do research. “I was trying to find out if the fingers of a corpse wrinkle when we let them soak in hot water, like ours, the living,” he says.
Philippe Jaenada finally says he had fun "hiding in the text a sentence generated by AI. It is, therefore, half a sentence, ten words. I have received, since the publication of L'Inconnue du quai de Javel, dozens of proposals from readers: no one has found it", continues the author.
Philippe Jaenada thus used AI in the sentence "believing does not eat bread, but it does not put any on the table either", page 215 of the work, he revealed Friday evening on RTL, saying he wanted to put an end to the controversy "where they say that I used AI to write my book".
Open Questions
- What will be the reaction of the Goncourt academy to these statements?
