‘No AI use’, says Commonwealth short story prize organisers
Maltese author John Edward DeMicoli was among several regional winners to come under scrutiny
An investigation into alleged artificial intelligence use in the Commonwealth Short Story Prize has concluded that the technology was not used to write submissions, competition organisers have said.
Maltese author John Edward DeMicoli and his entry The Bastion’s Shadow was among several regional competition winners to come under scrutiny last month following allegations of AI use.
In a statement Tuesday, Commonwealth Foundation general director Razmi Farook said that following a “thorough consultation with our judges and careful consideration of all available information, we are satisfied that AI was not used to write the winning stories”.
The investigation into the alleged AI use included “detailed discussions” with regional winners about the creative process and examinations of evidence, including working drafts, time-stamped documents and notes, Farook explained.
Allegations that some authors taking part in the competition had used artificial intelligence in their writing surfaced around a week after the regional winners were announced, with tech experts pointing to “AI tells” in the texts signalling that the technology was used.
One X user noted that AI detection tool Pangram flagged DeMicoli's story as fully AI-generated, while Indian writer Sharon Aruparayil’s entry Mehendi Nights, winner of the Asia category, was partly AI-generated.
While the allegations pointed to results from AI detection tools, the investigation into the claims did not use such tools.
The Commonwealth Foundation chief said the investigation had not employed AI checkers “due to concerns regarding artistic ownership and consent surrounding unpublished work from across the Commonwealth”.
Farook noted that while such tools could serve as “useful indicators ... we also recognise the widely accepted view that they cannot provide conclusive evidence on their own. Therefore, we sought to gather further information to make an informed and fair decision”.
She called the incident “an important learning process around a rapidly evolving issue” that had highlighted where improvements could be made and said the foundation had “begun discussions” about the use of AI checkers in competitions.
Calling the allegations “upsetting for many associated with the prize”, including entrants, winners, readers and judges, Farook said the foundation accepted that the allegations may have heightened concerns over AI use.
“Questions about authenticity and trust matter more than ever”.
Farook said the foundation remained confident in its judges and in the merit of the stories selected as regional winners and thanked the writers for their cooperation during the investigation.
DeMicoli’s entry The Bastion’s Shadow explores the theme of migration through an NGO worker who begins to view the capital’s fortifications as silent witnesses to memory.
Reacting to the “incredible honour” of being selected as regional winner for Europe and Canada, the author said last month that his story had grown from a long-standing fascination with Valletta’s history and bastions.
"I wanted to explore the idea that remembering names and recognising dignity can become a quiet form of guardianship”, he said at the time. “While the characters are fictional, the emotional landscape of the story is shaped by the realities that surround us”.
Publisher and literary magazine Granta announced last week that it would no longer publish winning entries of the Commonwealth Short Story Prize following the allegations, citing the need to protect its "editorial integrity".
The short story 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.
Use of AI has exploded in recent years, driven by the public debut of large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, which have fascinated users with their human-like responses and are widely employed in customer service chatbots and virtual assistants.
While public interest in AI has continued, with tech companies seeing record investment, concerns have been raised over the ethical use of the technology and possible copyright infringement.