Zimbabwean author Simbarashe Kundizeza denies using AI to write prize-winning story

Prefer the Guardian on GoogleThe Zimbabwean writer Simbarashe Kundizeza has denied using AI to write a prize-winning short story after an article in the Atlantic said software had flagged it as almost completely AI-generated.

A história de Kundizeza, O Lutador Azul, foi anunciada como vencedora do prestigiado Prêmio Caine para escritores africanos em 6 de outubro. Cinco dias depois, The Atlantic publicou um artigo do autor e jornalista Vauhini Vara intitulado: “Mais Um Vencedor de Prêmio Literário Parece Ser IA.”.

Vara said that she had run the story through the AI-detection software Pangram, which itself uses AI, and it had deemed the story to be almost completely artificially generated.

The exception, she said, was an epigraph from what is described as an unpublished poem by the South African writer Vangile Gantsho.

Vara said that when she read the story, she “was struck by the proliferation of language that is common in AI-produced writing: the not x, but y sentence constructions; the glut of metaphors; the platitudinous aphorisms”.

She said: “Taste is subjective, but trust me, this story is bad – maudlin and full of tired tropes.”.

Kundizeza respondeu em uma declaração no X: “Para evitar dúvidas, eu escrevi ‘The Blue Fighter’. Não usei IA generativa para escrevê-lo. É inteiramente meu trabalho.”.

Fotografia: Andrew Altschul Declarações semelhantes foram feitas recentemente sobre outros vencedores de prêmios literários. Em julho, o escritor trinitário Jamir Nazir venceu o prêmio de conto da Commonwealth Foundation com The Serpent in the Grove, apesar de críticos nas redes sociais alegarem que ele apresentava “obvious markers” de escrita por IA.

Last month, the Canadian-Haitian writer Thélyson Orélien’s novel C’était Ça Ou Mourir (It Was That or Die) was removed from the longlist of France’s most prestigious literary prize, the Goncourt, after an anonymous online account alleged the book was “almost entirely” written by AI.

The Caine prize said in a statement that it was reviewing the allegations that Kundizeza had used AI. It 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.”.

Its chair questioned the reliability of AI-detection software itself.

Ellah Wakatama disse ao programa de rádio Front Row da BBC: “Como alguém que preside um prêmio, obviamente não sou contra a IA, mas o que eu sou contra é que ela seja usada como árbitro final neste caso, independentemente do que o Atlantic diga, porque eles já proclamaram nosso vencedor como um trapaceiro sem investigá-lo adequadamente.”.

Vara said in her article, and repeated in an interview with Front Row, that she had read a 2021 story by Kundizeza that was tonally and stylistically different from The Blue Fighter.

Read moreIn his statement, he responded: “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.”.

Vara pointed to Pangram’s own research that found that false positives were rare, including for non-native English speakers writing in English, as well as a peer-reviewed journal article that found Pangram had “strong accuracy” when assessing mock academic papers created fully, partly or with no AI.

However, she acknowledged to the BBC that there was “relatively little third-party research” on the accuracy of AI detection software.