Canadian-Haitian author Thélyson Orélien has denied allegations that artificial intelligence was used to write his award-winning novel, C’était ça ou mourir.

The controversy comes shortly after the novel won the Prix du Roman Fnac, the first major prize of the French literary season. Orélien, 38, is also a finalist for the Goncourt and Renaudot, two of France’s most renowned literary awards.

A French group known as Balance ton Claude has alleged that the novel was “almost totally” written by AI.

In a recent post on X, the group said it tested several passages of the manuscript using Pangram, an AI detection tool it described as “by far the most accurate.”

According to the group, several passages tested returned a 100 per cent AI result. It also cited what it described as Pangram’s false-positive rate of 0.0041 per cent.

Balance ton Claude questioned whether Orélien should have acknowledged AI as a co-author, saying: “Wouldn’t it have been more honest for the author to credit their co-author?”

Orélien, however, rejected the allegation in an interview with French newspaper Libération, saying he did not use AI to write the book.

“I have always loved creation and literature. I can’t see why I would feel compelled to use a machine,” he said.

The author also said the work reflects his Haitian and Caribbean traditions, describing its imagery, repetitions and rhythms as his own.

His publisher, Grasset, also defended him, describing the allegations as “atrociously injurious” to a writer with an exceptional life story and calling the work “original and powerful.”

C’était ça ou mourir tells the story of a teacher who flees gang violence in Haiti before eventually reaching Canada, where he begins a new life.

Orélien was born in 1988 in Gonaïves, northern Haiti, and later moved to Montreal, Canada, where he worked as a journalist. His earlier literary works were mainly poetic texts. (AriseNews TV)