Maltese short story writer investigated over alleged AI use
Several winners of Commonwealth Short Story Prize under the lens for alleged 'AI tells'
A Maltese writer is among several authors under scrutiny after being accused of using artificial intelligence to write their prize-winning short stories.
Author John Edward DeMicoli is one of five regional winners of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize announced earlier in May. His story, The Bastion’s Shadow, was the winner for Europe and Canada.
The prize was launched in 2012 by the Commonwealth Foundation, and accepts unpublished short fiction between 2,000 and 5,000 words. It is open to writers from the Commonwealth’s 56 member states, and awards £2,500 (€2,886) to each regional winner and £5,000 (€5,773) to the overall winner, who will be announced on June 30.
However, following the publication of the winning stories, an article in the UK Independent highlighted that several people online, including AI experts, had called out Trinidad and Tobago writer Jamir Nazir, as well as other authors including DeMicoli, for their alleged use of AI.
Several readers pointed out what they called “AI tells” in Nezir’s story , including AI researcher Nabeel S Qureshi.
“Well, this is a first: a ChatGPT-generated story won a prestigious literary prize. ‘Not X, not Y, but Z’ sentences everywhere, the ‘hums’ trope, and plenty of other obvious markers of AI writing,” she said.
A user on X pointed out that Pangram, an AI detector, had flagged DeMicoli's story The Bastion’s Shadow as fully AI-generated while Mehendi Nights by Indian writer Sharon Aruparayil, winner for Asia category, was partly AI-generated.
In a statement, the Commonwealth Foundation said it had “taken steps to understand and query the allegations...through reviewing all available evidence.”
“We also recognise that at this time, we have a duty to both respect the choices made by the independent panel of experts, experienced judges who selected the stories, and to support all of the writers involved in the prize,” the foundation said, while pointing out that many of the writers were still at the beginning of their careers.
The foundation said AI was the single biggest issue facing much of the creative world, but defended writers against what it called the concerning tone of much of the discourse surrounding the issue.
Granta, where The Bastion’s Shadow and other stories are published, has now added a note above the story saying, “This year, there has been speculation that some of the stories may have been at least partially AI-generated. The suggestion that writers have submitted material not authentically their own is a charge we take seriously, but until definite evidence comes to light we will keep these stories on our website.”
When contacted by Times of Malta, DeMicoli declined to comment on the allegations.