Just a day after winning France’s prestigious Goncourt Prize, author Philippe Jaenada disclosed that he used artificial intelligence three times during the writing of his winning novel, reigniting debates over technology’s role in contemporary literature, per euronews.com.
Speaking on France Inter radio on November 4, the 62-year-old novelist revealed that he integrated a ChatGPT-generated sentence into his book to play with the reader, and used the tool to research technical data and mock its sometimes absurd outputs.
Jaenada defended his approach, stating that writers must acknowledge and tame artificial intelligence rather than ignore it.
His admission comes on the heels of a separate literary controversy involving author Thélyson Orélien, whose book was dropped from prize consideration and whose publisher severed ties following similar revelations of AI use and plagiarism accusations.
Jaenada’s comments have drawn mixed reactions from readers and literary critics, amplifying broader anxieties over authenticity and human creativity within the publishing industry.
•Featured image: Philippe Jaenada/Copyright Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.