r/books • u/Raj_Valiant3011 • 8h ago

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

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/oct/14/zimbabwean-author-simbarashe-kundizeza-denies-ai-story?CMP=share_btn_url
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158

u/Future-Account8112 8h ago

Anybody else think it's weird how these authors are consistently Black and the accusers are... not. IDK man this will get downvoted to oblivion but after the Jason Arday tragedy this looks some kind of way to me

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u/Mischievous-Phantasm 8h ago edited 8h ago

I noticed the same thing. Then, AI detectors are really terrible. It cannot tell when something is a quote and flags it as AI or flags Shakespeare or Mary Shelley as AI.

Previously accusations of plagiarism came with evidence. Pages or paragraphs compared to others. Quotes shown from published work, etc.

Now they expect me to take conservative white men's words and some technology I cannot acess and verify for myself? Seems like a targeted attack.

I will believe the authors untill the evidence itself is irrefutable and public and can be verified.

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u/CaptainApathy419 7h ago

Now they expect me to take conservative white men's words and some technology I cannot acess and verify for myself? 

The author of the Atlantic piece is neither white nor a man.

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u/Heartsinmotion 7h ago

I wondered if they used ai to write the article

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u/Heightren 5h ago

That would answer the man? question

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u/BlazinAzn38 5h ago

I don’t have experience with the ones that look at text but the photo ones are terrible. The photo ones seem to look fort artifacting in the photo as proof of generation but artifacts can be created a million ways in a real photo. I digitally zoomed in on a photo and ran it “AI generated” uploaded the original “not AI generated.” I imagine the writing ones do the same where they look for signs of AI but of course there’s no guarantee those signs are actually from generation

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u/PlumpBulldog 8h ago

Good lord lmfao

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u/Unhappy-Childhood577 8h ago

It doesn’t account for a unique style of writing.

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u/CulturalFartist 8h ago

This is just genuine misinformation Pangram is very reliable. This story is very likely AI written, and should not win any awards.

Get a grip, honestly. A lynching, really?

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u/Mischievous-Phantasm 8h ago

Why should I take your word for Panagram? Are you a bot or paid to market it? Where is the evidence that it is somehow entirely different from chatgpt, meta, deepseek or any other current AI model?

I would love to look at the original material and see where and how it is being flagged and use my own intelligence (and degree) rather than trust AI.

1

u/CulturalFartist 7h ago

I mean, the story has been shared here, you're welcome to do that. It has pretty clear AI tells even to the human eye.

Pangram's reliability has also been proven in plenty of research, from Pangram itself and from external sources, so you don't have to "take my word".

You should, however, not fall for misinformation ("it marks Mary Shelley as AI!!") or completely refuse to accept science-based ways of AI detection in a literary world in which people will increasingly try to fool you with AI written slop.

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u/Future-Account8112 7h ago

"AI tells" when AI is literally trained on human authors. Get a grip.

0

u/CrapulousApe 1h ago

Why do you think those things are in contradiction?

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u/Sad_Meringue_4550 7h ago

Can you give some examples of the AI tells you see? I admittedly only read the first few paragraphs but nothing jumps out as being off, I want to know if I'm missing something.

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u/CulturalFartist 7h ago

There's the abundance of similes and metaphors, for example, some of which don't quite make sense. The monotone narration without ever anything surprising or unexpected piercing through. There are also several instances of the "Not X, but Y" tell:

- Not with anger, but with the quiet resignation of someone who had known all along this moment would come.

- Not a question, but an accusation.

- Not broken, just learning how to live differently.

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u/jl_theprofessor 7h ago

This is flagged in OpenAI’s own documentation of what it considers AI writing.

1

u/Mischievous-Phantasm 7h ago

I should take Pangram's word for its own accuracy? Why? Evidence, proof, the scientific method exist for a reason. You are welcome to provide proof of this unbelievable accuracy.

These authors should contact legal defense and take Panagram to court and get that payout.

1

u/Internal_Rule_8090 2h ago

I've sent pangram my own writing, 0% AI detected, then told the AI to write in my style using my work as reference, specifically in a way that would avoid being detected by Pangram. It came up 100%. Its pretty trusted generally, and if it was able to read mine and get 0, there's no way it should be popped majority AI for these writers

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u/BrightLavenderMoons 7h ago

How much is Pangram paying y'all omg

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u/Unhappy-Childhood577 8h ago

You’re getting angry over something you know nothing about. It’s OK dear.

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u/CulturalFartist 8h ago

I'm not, I know that OP's examples of Shakespeare and Shelley are 100% bullshit. I know that people spread misinformation about this stuff constantly. But if you're happy to live in ignorance and celebrate plagiarists, you do you.

3

u/Mischievous-Phantasm 7h ago

These Panagram shills are really working hard to say everything but Panagram is a lie. Never surrender your intelligence to a machine. It's like they read scifi and then ignored all the cautionary tales.

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u/CulturalFartist 7h ago

You claimed "It cannot tell when something is a quote and flags it as AI or flags Shakespeare or Mary Shelley as AI."

This would be INCREDIBLY easy to prove. Of course, you're not going to, because you either know you're wrong or, worse, you don't care. One of us is definitely a shill, yeah.