Haitian-Canadian author Thélyson Orélien says he did not use artificial intelligence to write his bestselling debut novel, while acknowledging that he plagiarized material in earlier work.

Orélien addressed the allegations in a letter distributed Tuesday by his French publisher, Grasset. Reuters reported that it was his first detailed response to the dispute surrounding C’était ça ou mourir, published in English as It Was Either That or Die.

Author rejects AI allegation

The novel has faced allegations since September that it was largely generated with artificial intelligence. The claim originated with an account on X that cited an AI-detection tool.

Orélien rejected that conclusion. He said he began the manuscript in 2017, completed a first draft in 2019 and wrote every sentence himself. AI-detection scores do not independently establish how a text was created, and no publicly disclosed evidence has conclusively resolved the authorship question.

His Canadian publisher, Éditions du Boréal, said in September that its editors had not used AI during their work on the manuscript. After reviewing material with the author, however, the publisher said it could neither confirm nor refute the broader allegations and cautioned against drawing premature conclusions.

Earlier plagiarism acknowledged

The author separately accepted responsibility for plagiarism in earlier writing. Reuters reported that La Presse had identified passages in a 2012 short story drawn from a book by French writer Louis Pauwels and a 2013 opinion column that copied from the Philippine Star newspaper.

Orélien described those actions as unacceptable mistakes and said admiration for other writers did not justify presenting their words as his own. He also said he had faced threats, racist harassment and what he viewed as a media campaign against him.

Boréal has called plagiarism incompatible with editorial integrity. It suspended promotional activities for the novel in September while keeping the book available.

Novel removed from Goncourt list

C’était ça ou mourir follows a Haitian teacher who leaves his country and travels through Latin America and the United States before reaching Canada. The novel won literary recognition and became a major French-language bestseller.

The Académie Goncourt later removed it from consideration after the AI and plagiarism allegations emerged. Tuesday’s statement does not reverse that decision or provide independent proof about the disputed drafting process; it records the author’s denial and his admission concerning earlier texts.

Sources: Reuters, October 13 at 12:50 p.m. EDT; The Canadian Press via Global News, October 13; Éditions du Boréal statement, September 25; Wikimedia Commons image page.

Lead image: An open book photographed by Aaron Burden in 2016, via Wikimedia Commons, CC0. Illustrative image; it does not depict Orélien or his novel.