Writers’ Trust, the Giller Prize and the Canada Council for the Arts say their approaches to AI in book judging depend largely on publisher safeguards and evolving policy expectations.
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Canada’s major literary prizes are leaning on publishers as the most likely gatekeepers for whether submitted books were written with generative artificial intelligence, while the Canada Council for the Arts said it is moving toward clearer expectations for its Governor General’s Literary Awards.
The executive directors of the Writers’ Trust and the Giller Foundation both said they have policies barring AI-written works from their awards. Elana Rabinovitch, who leads the Giller Prize, said publishing houses work closely with authors and are in a better position than the awards organizations to assess whether generative AI was used in creating a manuscript.
Caroline Lussier, director of arts promotion for the Canada Council, said the council is establishing a policy that will set “clear expectations” on AI for books it considers for the Governor General’s Literary Awards. She said the council hopes the policy will be ready for the next competition cycle.
The comments come as controversy over the use of generative AI in literature spreads across international prize systems. In France, one of the country’s top literature prizes pulled a Canadian author’s debut novel from its long list after allegations that the book was written with generative AI; the author has denied the claim.
Lussier said the Council was already working on its policy before the French controversy, and noted that the organization has already published guidance on how AI can be used in projects it funds and in how applications are reviewed.
On Friday, the Académie Goncourt announced it had removed Orélien’s novel, “C’était ça ou mourir” (“It was either that or dying”), from the running for the Prix Goncourt amid allegations involving generative AI, as well as separate plagiarism allegations related to the author’s earlier work. Orélien declined to comment on Friday, citing a focus on his health, but had earlier denied using AI to write the novel.
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