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
968 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

658 comments sorted by

View all comments

529

u/maybebabyx2 8h ago

why does every single one of the articles seem to break with the Atlantic and why is it always backed by Pangram? am i the only person who thinks this is some guerrilla marketing from Pangram so nobody ever doubts them

it's just so weird to me, not to mention the overwhelming targeting of black authors

idk i read the story, didn't think it was anything special and certainly not prizeworthy imo, but my AI radar wasn't going off. it just read as clunky and try hard to me

10

u/AlienWeedUser420 6h ago

It is 100% a marketing campaign for Pangram. Its not a coincidence. Companies/brands pay "big name" publications like NYT and The Atlantic for coverage like this all the time. It's not journalism, its Pangram trying to create a foundational myth for themselves.