French literary prize removes novel after artificial intelligence accusations

France's top literary prize, the Prix Goncourt, removed a novel from its longlist on September 25, 2026, because of claims that it was written by artificial intelligence. The book, "C'était Ça ou Mourir," was written by Canadian-Haitian author Thélyson Orélien and had already sold around 35,000 copies. An anonymous account on X posted the accusations one day earlier, using an AI detection tool as evidence. Orélien denied the claims and said he was gathering proof that he wrote the book himself. Separate accusations also appeared, saying he had copied passages from other writers in older texts. The Goncourt Academy said it removed the novel to protect the prize and to support literature written by humans. His publisher has stopped all promotional activities.