Les Éditions du Boréal, a Quebec publisher, said Oct. 21 it was ending its professional relationship with Haitian-Canadian author Thélyson Orélien and would stop reprinting his novel C’était ça ou mourir and publishing future books by him. The decision followed an external review of the novel’s working files. Boréal said the analysis found traces of AI markers in metadata from some documents and that it viewed the findings as evidence AI had been used in the writing process. The publisher said it could not establish how extensively.
Boréal said it gathered working versions of the novel and commissioned the review. It did not identify the analyst or release the analysis. The publisher said it may never learn the extent of any AI use.
The announcement came after Boréal said on Sept. 24 that it had not reached a conclusion on the allegations. At the time, the publisher said its own editorial work began after it received a complete manuscript and that it had not used AI in editing the book. Boréal said the new findings conflicted with Orélien’s repeated assurances and cited confidence between writers and publishers as central to its decision.
In a statement sent to AFP on Oct. 13, Orélien denied that a machine had written any part of the novel. He said he used tools for research, including to interpret expressions in other languages. He said he began the book in autumn 2017 and completed a first draft in 2019.
The Canadian Press said it had not independently verified earlier allegations and reported that AI-detection scores cannot, by themselves, establish authorship. Boréal said the case had no established playbook and could have long-term effects for the publisher, other publishers and the book industry.
The publisher said the novel is covered by agreements with numerous foreign publishers. It plans to contact those publishers while honoring its commitments, but did not specify how other editions might be affected.
