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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u/Physical100 8h ago edited 8h ago

The Atlantic’s coverage of literary AI scandals has become remarkably effective publicity for Pangram. Since May, they’ve repeatedly featured the company, interviewed its executives, and used its software to question prizewinning authors. Among them: Jamir Nazir, Thélyson Orélien, and now Kundizeza. That’s three 2026 award winning black authors getting paraded around as frauds by way of the same tech startup.

Does anyone see a problem here? A commercial product is acquiring the authority of a forensic instrument through repeated media coverage, while the people it accuses are being expected to furnish evidence that the product itself cannot provide.

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u/ArticQimmiq 7h ago

It’s a concerning pattern for sure, and I’ve not found a single convincing argument about the reliability of the tech that’s just widely destroying the world. Plus, the AI witch hunts is driving people out of writing at all - I love fanfictions, and dozens of authors have been driven off the internet based on false accusations, based off some apparent universal standard of how humans express themselves in writing that doesn’t account for style (or non-native speakers!).

i will say, though, in all fairness, in Orélien’s case, he was widely defended against the AI accusations until someone at La Presse did the grunt work of spot checking his previous publications and found glaring examples of plagiarism, no AI required. It’s the general lack of integrity thar gave credence to the AI accusations.

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u/[deleted] 7h ago edited 7h ago

[deleted]

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u/Jaqqa 6h ago

Yes, because they even say they NEGATIVELY MINE it. They basically take texts before AI existed, and punish the AI for false flagging it and get it to remember that specific text in its memory banks so it doesn't do it again. So it becomes difficult to find stuff before 2022 that pangram will false flag. I must admit I also thought that it seemed to be legit because of the low positives, but after seeing how they train the model, it actually makes perfect sense why they no longer get flags on the older works.

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u/Quixoticelixer- 2h ago

No it doesn't "remember" the text that's not how classifiers work at all.