Caine Prize Winner Denies AI Use: What Sparked The Controversy?

The Zimbabwean author Simbarashe Kundizeza has denied allegations of using Artificial Intelligence to write the short story that won the Caine Prize for African Writers.

An article published in The Atlantic claimed that his story that won the prize was written using AI software. In his X post, Kundizeza denounced the allegations of using AI, and wrote, “For the avoidance of doubt, I wrote ‘The Blue Fighter’. I did not use generative AI to write it. It is entirely my own work.

He further added, “I look forward to continuing to work with the Caine prize team, and to celebrating this recognition with the people who helped bring this story into the world. Most importantly, I will continue to write.”

What Is the Allegation?

On October 6, Kundizeza’s story The Blue Fighter won the prestigious Caine Prize for African writers. However, five days later, an article published in The Atlantic, written by the author and journalist Vauhini Vara, claimed that the story was written by AI. The article titled “Yet Another Literary Prize Winner Seems to Be AI” said that a software flagged the story as written by AI.

In her article and in an interview with Front Row, Vara claimed that she had read a 2021 story by Kundizeza; it was different from The Blue Fighter in terms of style and tone.

Kundizeza responded by saying in his post,” To suggest that a writer cannot write in different styles or genres, or improve his writing substantially after five or more years fundamentally misunderstands the craft of writing.

How Did the Caine Prize Team Respond?

The authorities of the Caine Prize have said that they are investigating the matter. In a statement, the Caine Prize said,” When such claims are made, it is our responsibility to look into them. We aim to do this by taking a human-centred approach, ensuring that writers are supported and cared for during the process.”

Ellah Wakatama, the chair of the Caine Prize, told the BBC that she was shocked to know that The Atlantic did not even wait for the investigation to be over before publishing the article.

She said, “ I do wish The Atlantic had spent more time investigating this so that, alongside Pangram, they did have evidence of real human investigation of it before tainting the prize and tainting this winner.”

Similar Allegations

Similar accusations have also targeted other literary prize winners. In July, Trinidadian writer Jamir Nazir won the Commonwealth Foundation’s short story prize for The Serpent in the Grove, despite social media users claiming the work had “obvious markers” of AI writing.

Last month, the novel C’était Ça Ou Mourir (It Was That or Die) by Canadian-Haitian writer Thélyson Orélien was dropped from the longlist for France’s prestigious Goncourt Prize. The decision followed claims by an anonymous online account that the book was “almost entirely” written by AI.