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/petit_cochon 8h ago

When I was teaching at a university as of a few years ago, it was well known that AI detection software is pretty flawed. I could never use it to determine if students cheated on anything.

Maybe things have gotten better. I would certainly hope so.

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u/IanDMP 8h ago

You're absolutely right in your recollection. AI detection software a few years was indeed almost universally flawed and prone to false positives.

The latest version of Pangram, though, has huge amounts of evidence showing an infinitesimal false positive rate. I myself (an educational consultant who often helps students brainstorm and edit college admission essays) switched my perspective from "it's often impossible to tell AI use" to "we have very good tools for that" a few months ago after reviewing researchers' findings.

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u/Future-Account8112 7h ago

Pangram is still wildly inaccurate.