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Publisher drops Canadian-Haitian prize-winning author after investigation finds he used AI to write debut novel

Publisher drops Canadian-Haitian prize-winning author after investigation finds he used AI to write debut novel

Thelyson Orelien had won France’s top literary prize, the Prix Goncourt, for his novel C'etait ca ou mourir (It was either that or die).
22 Oct, 2026

Canadian publishing house Les Editions du Boreal said on Wednesday it had ended its professional relationship with Haitian-Canadian author Thelyson Orelien after it found that he had used Artificial Intelligence (AI) to write his award-winning book.

Orelien’s debut novel, C’etait ca ou mourir (It was either that or die), won a host of literary awards and was due to be translated into multiple languages before a little-known X account said last month that it was written almost entirely with AI.

Orelien previously denied using AI but acknowledged instances of past plagiarism. It was not immediately possible to reach Orelien for comment.

Boreal said its investigation involved a detailed external analysis, which found traces of AI markers in the metadata of certain documents.

“We still cannot know in what capacity AI was used in the creation of It was either that or die, and undoubtedly we will never have a definitive answer,” Boreal said in a statement.

“After the allegations, we continued to trust Orelien, who assured us he had never used such tools. This assertion has now been proven false,” Boreal added.

Boreal said it would not reprint the novel or publish future works by Orelien.

Comments

Dr. Salaria, Aamir Ahmad Oct 22, 2026 12:35pm
Great move. Please remember the centuries old axiom, 'once a cheater, always a cheater.'
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Nasir Askar Oct 22, 2026 02:46pm
Ok Claude, please write a novel for me
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Khawaja Ikram Ul Haq Oct 23, 2026 08:27am
a system will have tobe found to copyright AI driven writings..nowadays u are accused of using AI even if u use texts from written discourses...not everyone will get the same output from AI if u use it deliberately...i tried correcting photographs and u can get ten different versions from AI type stuff...thingsl ike markers donot really prove that AI is used as already written texts have such markers... AI will have tobe accepted if what is written using it is original to a large extent...
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Khawaja Ikram Ul Haq Oct 23, 2026 08:30am
Ai copyrights will have tobe accepted eventually if its output is largely original...as soon everything will have AI type markers
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ZAINAB FATIMA Oct 23, 2026 08:50am
there should be now standard AI ethics regulated by government and publishing houses to prevent such instances
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