Canadian publisher cuts ties with best-selling writer Orelien over AI use

Publisher Boreal says investigations confirmed the Hatian-Canadian Thelyson Orelien used AI in his breakthrough novel.

Haitian-Canadian novelist Thelyson Orelien looks on as he takes part in the 28th edition of the 'Les Correspondances' literature festival in Manosque, southeastern France, on September 24, 2026 [File: Joel Saget/AFP]

The publisher of best-selling Haitian-Canadian writer Thelyson Orelien says it has severed its professional relationship with the author after confirming he used artificial intelligence to help write his novel, “It Was Either That or Die”.

Boreal said on Wednesday that it conducted a further investigation after allegations surfaced in September to determine whether AI was used to write the novel.

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“New information, confirmed over the past few days, indicates that artificial intelligence was used in the writing process” of the novel, a Boreal statement said.

Orelien had previously denied allegations surrounding his breakthrough novel, and last week, the Canadian publisher said it was standing by the 38-year-old writer.

Boreal said it did not know the extent of AI’s use in the writing process “and we will likely never have a definitive answer”.

It said it gathered all the working versions of the novel and hired an outside party to analyse the various drafts.

“The results obtained this week revealed traces of AI tags in the metadata of certain documents,” Boreal said.

The publisher said it had tried to work with Orelien to gather the evidence necessary to prove his innocence.

That effort was inconclusive, and Orelien “subsequently announced that he would not provide any further information,” the publisher said.

A copy of the book “C’etait ca ou mourir”, by author Thelyson Orelien, is displayed on a table inside a bookstore in Paris, France, on September 22, 2026 [File: Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters]

‘Slander and heresy’

Orelien’s novel about migration, known by its original French title “C’etait ca ou mourir”, had been scheduled for translation in more than 20 countries.

France’s top book prize, the Goncourt, removed “C’etait ca ou mourir” from its shortlist after tests with the AI detector Pangram indicated a 100 percent probability that it contained computer-generated text.

But Orelien called the allegations “slander and heresy” in a statement sent to AFP earlier this month.

“Here and there I did use tools for research, particularly for foreign idioms,” he said.

“But not a single sentence in this book was created by a machine, nor the meaning or the structure of a story that comes from my gut,” Orelien said.

On Wednesday, he stood firm, telling the French newspaper Liberation that he had used AI “in the creative process” for “historical research”.

The author said he began writing the book in late 2017, before AI services such as ChatGPT were widely available.

When the allegations first surfaced in September, Orelien said he suspected racism was behind the attacks on him.

出版商 Boreal 表示，调查证实海地裔加拿大作家 Thelyson Orelien 在他的突破性小说中使用了人工智能。

2026年9月24日，海地裔加拿大籍小说家泰利森·奥雷利安在法国东南部马诺斯克参加第28届“Les Correspondances”文学节时观看。[图片：Joel Saget/AFP]

畅销书作家、海地裔加拿大作家塞利森·奥雷利安的出版商表示，在确认他使用人工智能帮助创作小说《要么那样，要么死》后，已终止与该作家的合作关系。

Boreal公司周三表示，在9月份出现相关指控后，该公司进行了进一步调查，以确定是否使用了人工智能来创作这部小说。

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Boreal出版社在一份声明中表示，“过去几天得到证实的新信息表明，人工智能被用于这部小说的写作过程中。”

奥雷利安此前否认了有关他成名作的指控，上周，这家加拿大出版商表示将支持这位 38 岁的作家。

Boreal公司表示，他们不知道人工智能在写作过程中的使用程度，“而且我们可能永远也不会有确切的答案”。

声明称，他们收集了小说的所有工作版本，并聘请了外部机构对各种草稿进行分析。

Boreal表示：“本周获得的结果显示，某些文档的元数据中存在人工智能标签的痕迹。”

出版商表示，他们曾试图与奥雷利安合作，收集必要的证据来证明他的清白。

出版商表示，这项努力没有取得任何结果，奥雷利安随后宣布他不会提供任何进一步的信息。

2026年9月22日，法国巴黎一家书店的桌子上摆放着作者Thelyson Orelien的著作《C'etait ca ou mourir》[图片：Sarah Meyssonnier/路透社]

“诽谤和异端邪说”

奥雷利安的这部关于移民的小说，原名是法语“C'etait ca ou mourir”，原计划在 20 多个国家翻译出版。

法国最高图书奖龚古尔奖在用人工智能检测器 Pangram 进行测试后，将《C'etait ca ou mourir》从入围名单中移除，测试结果表明该书 100% 的概率包含计算机生成的文本。

但奥雷利安在本月初发给法新社的一份声明中称这些指控是“诽谤和异端邪说”。

他说：“我偶尔会使用一些研究工具，特别是研究外国成语的工具。”

“但这本书里没有一句话是机器生成的，故事的意义和结构也都源自我的内心，”奥雷利安说。

周三，他态度坚决，告诉法国报纸《解放报》，他曾在“创作过程”中使用人工智能进行“历史研究”。

作者表示，他于 2017 年底开始撰写这本书，当时 ChatGPT 等人工智能服务还没有广泛普及。

奥雷利安在9月份首次听到这些指控时表示，他怀疑针对他的袭击背后存在种族主义因素。