Caine Prize finds no evidence winning story was AI-written

The Caine Prize for African Writing has said that an internal review turned up no proof that its winning writer relied on generative AI. According to the BBC, the prize has now confirmed Zimbabwean writer Simbarashe Kundizeza as the winner of this year’s award, which carries a value of £10,000, or about $13,000.

Ellah Wakatama, who chairs the board of trustees, shared the outcome in a video posted on X. In it she stated that the material points clearly to human authorship, and that the winning story, The Blue Fighter, was written by a person.

What set off the inquiry

The inquiry began after a piece in the US magazine The Atlantic, written by journalist Vauhini Vara. Her article contended that the story was produced entirely by AI, and it relied on the output of a detection tool called Pangram.

The allegation spread quickly on social media and generated a strong backlash. Kundizeza rejected the claim. Some African writers commented that such accusations seem to fall mainly on non-white writers.

Vara later told the BBC’s Front Row programme that each earlier Caine Prize winner she had run through Pangram had scored as wholly human. Her claims arrived after a year marked by similar rows at other prizes.

How the review was carried out

Wakatama said the prize had looked at Vara’s claims with care and fairness. It opted for what she called a human-centred method.

Those consulted included the author, the people who sat on this year’s judging panel, and Shallow Tales Review, which first ran the story. The team also examined drafts by the writer using metadata analysis that the prize described as independent and led by experts.

A separate statement said the metadata work was carried out by an outside cyber security and digital forensics specialist.

A wider debate over AI in literary prizes

The case follows other disputes this year. The Commonwealth Short Story Prize went to Trinidadian writer Jamir Nazir, even though claims had been made that he used AI.

In another case, Canadian-Haitian author Thélyson Orélien left the running for the Goncourt, France’s top literary prize, after accusations that he had used AI in his first novel. He rejects those accusations.

Kundizeza spoke to the BBC the day after his win. He said the idea came after hearing South African poet Vangile Gantsho perform a piece at a Ghana event last year, a work about a father who loved assembling aquariums.

He blended that inspiration with fictional material drawn from his own life, set around 2002, when Zimbabwe’s economic difficulties started.

With the review concluded and the result confirmed, the prize has closed the matter for now, although the wider question of how AI should be judged in literary competitions remains open.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• BBC News: African writing award probe finds 'no evidence' winning story was AI generated

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