PARIS, Oct 21 (Reuters) – 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 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 continue to trust Thelyson 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
(Reporting by Makini Brice in Paris and Maria Cheng in Ottawa; Editing by Toby Chopra)
