Simbarashe Kundizeza denies AI use in Caine prize-winning story The Blue Fighter
Zimbabwean writer Simbarashe Kundizeza has denied using generative AI to write The Blue Fighter, announced winner of the Caine prize for African writers on 6 October, after an article by Vauhini Vara raised the simbarashe kundizeza ai controversy.
Simbarashe Kundizeza denies AI use in Caine prize-winning story The Blue Fighter
Kundizeza said in a statement on X: "For the avoidance of doubt, I wrote 'The Blue Fighter'. I did not use generative AI to write it." His story was announced as the winner of the Caine prize for African writers on 6 October.
The allegations
Five days after the announcement, The Atlantic published an article by the author and journalist Vauhini Vara titled "Yet Another Literary prize winner Seems to Be AI". Vara wrote that she had run the story through the AI-detection software Pangram, which deemed it almost completely artificially generated.
According to Vara, the only exception was an epigraph from what is described as an unpublished poem by the South African writer Vangile Gantsho. She wrote that she was struck by the proliferation of language common in AI-produced writing, including "not x, but y" constructions and a glut of metaphors.
"Taste is subjective, but trust me, this story is bad – maudlin and full of tired tropes."
The writer's response
In his statement on X, Kundizeza said the story is entirely his own work and that he looks forward to continuing to work with the Caine prize team and celebrating the recognition with those who helped bring the story to life. Vara had noted that she read a 2021 story by Kundizeza that was tonally and stylistically different from The Blue Fighter. He replied that writers can write in different styles and improve substantially after five or more years.
The prize's position
The Caine prize said it is reviewing the allegations. "When such claims are made, it is our responsibility to look into them. We aim to do this by taking a human-centred approach," the prize said.
Chair Ellah Wakatama told BBC's Front Row she opposes AI detection being used as a final arbiter: "what I am against is it being used as a final arbiter in this case, regardless of what the Atlantic says". She said The Atlantic had proclaimed the winner a cheater without investigating it properly, adding: "I am not happy for the work of writers, and in this case especially black writers, to form the testing ground" for technology that is at best rough and ready.
A wider pattern
The case joins recent AI allegations at other literary prizes:
- In July, Trinidadian writer Jamir Nazir won the Commonwealth Foundation's short story prize with The Serpent in the Grove despite social media critics claiming it had "obvious markers" of AI writing.
- Last month, Thélyson Orélien's novel C'était Ça Ou Mourir was removed from the Goncourt longlist after an anonymous online account alleged it was "almost entirely" written by AI.
Vara cited Pangram research finding false positives rare, including for non-native English speakers, and a peer-reviewed journal article that found Pangram had "strong accuracy" when assessing mock academic papers. She acknowledged to the BBC, however, that there was "relatively little third-party research" on the accuracy of AI detection software. The Caine prize says it takes a human-centred approach when such claims are made.
