Publisher drops Canadian-Haitian prize-winning author after investigation finds he used AI to write debut novel

Canadian publishing house Les Editions du Boreal said on Wednesday it had ended its professional relationship with Haitian-Canadian author Thelyson Orelien after it found that he had used Artificial Intelligence (AI) to write his award-winning book. Orelien's debut novel, C'etait ca ou mourir (It was either that or die), won a host of literary awards and was due to be translated into multiple languages before a little-known X account said last month that it was written almost entirely with AI. Orelien previously denied using AI but acknowledged instances of past plagiarism. It was not immediately possible to reach Orelien for comment. Boreal said its investigation involved a detailed external analysis, which found traces of AI markers in the metadata of certain documents. 'We still cannot know in what capacity AI was used in the creation of It was either that or die, and undoubtedly we will never have a definitive answer,' Boreal said in a statement. 'After the allegations, we continued to trust Orelien, who assured us he had never used such tools. This assertion has now been proven false,' Boreal added. Boreal said it would not reprint the novel or publish future works by Orelien.