Caine Prize-winning writer accused of using AI to write his work

Zimbabwean writer Simbarashe Kundizeza, awarded the Caine Prize in London on October 6, finds himself at the heart of a controversy. Created in 2000, this international literary prize rewards each year a short story written in English by an African author.

The controversy erupted after the publication of an article in The Atlantic, titled “A new literary prize-winning work appears to be the brainchild of AI.” Writer and journalist Vauhini Vara claims that Simbarashe Kundizeza's award-winning short story, The Blue Fighter, was generated almost entirely by artificial intelligence. To support her suspicions, she explains that she submitted the text to Pangram, an AI-generated content detection software, which estimated that almost all of the news had been artificially produced.

For his part, Simbarashe Kundizeza denies any use of AI. “It’s entirely my own work,” he said on October 13 on X. The writer also claims to want to continue his writing work and continue to celebrate this distinction. In a press release published the same day, Prix Caine indicated that it was following the matter closely. Its chairman of the board, Ellah Wakatama, however, expressed reservations about the reliability of AI detection tools. Guest on the BBC radio show Front Row, she opposed this software being considered “a final arbiter” in this type of case.

In response, Vauhini Vara maintains that with the Pangram tool, AI false positives remain rare, citing a scientific article supporting the high accuracy of Pangram. She nevertheless recognizes that there is “relatively little research” on the subject.