A story that was widely accused on social media of being written using AI has won the overall Commonwealth Short Story Prize.
Zameer Nazir’s story snake in the grove It went viral with critics criticizing X and Bluesky after it was named as the regional winner in mid-May. claim of It showed “clear markers” of AI use. The literary magazine Granta subsequently pulled out of its long-standing agreement to publish Commonwealth winners.
In the wake of the controversy, the Commonwealth Foundation conducted a review Regional winners were said to have included viewing drafts, time-stamped documents and notes. Razmi Farooq, director general of the foundation, said, “We are satisfied with the testimony of our writers and their confirmation that AI was not used in their writing.”
Nazir will receive an additional £2,500 on top of the £2,500 he won when he was named Caribbean winner last month. Judging chair Louise Doughty described Nazir’s article as “an original, poetic and deeply moving story”.
The story contains several “not X, but Y” constructions and lists of three, which some consider indicative of the use of AI. Critics also drew attention to particular lines, including: “The sun is a cruel instrument upon galvanizing”; “His running ability was such that benches became men”; And “Marsha lived by bending two… (she) was big like those women who never apologize for the furniture”.
one in film In the book, released by the Commonwealth Foundation on Tuesday, Nazir says that VS Naipaul and Derek Walcott have been significant influences on him. He says he wrote six or seven drafts of his award-winning story, and also explains his use of speech-to-text software, explaining that he could only see three or four lines of text on his phone screen at any time, so he would correct each line before moving on, thus making his story “highly refined”.
“This story began in my childhood in rural Trinidad,” he said of the inspiration behind his story. “Each day, I would walk to school past the rum shops where sugarcane workers and laborers would gather. I remember the sounds, laughter, arguments and conversations that shaped village life.”
Initial social media reactions to Nazir’s victory announcement by the Commonwealth Foundation were negative. an x user Writing: “Extremely disappointing and frustrating. Seems like they wanted to stick to their guns after the whole GenAI fiasco. I might think twice now before submitting my stories here”.
After Nazir was declared the regional winner in May, some social media users reported running his story through AI-detection software. “Pangram flags at 100%, but also, if you know you know”, Wharton professor Ethan Mollick said. However, the reliability of AI-detection software has been questioned.
In a statement to the Guardian, Farooq said that “Rather than entrust our decision to AI-detection software, we asked our winners to show us their working drafts, outlines, evidence of their artistic journey. It must be said that that software is not infallible: it gives inconsistent verdicts and, in doing so, destroys the trust on which the award depends.”
He said, “When the default voice of the machine is cosmopolitan, the writer who does not fit the expected mold is the first to come under suspicion.” “The more his gift startles, the more his unrecognized talent unsettles, the more easily he is accused of being a machine. In Kingston or Kolkata, in Kuala Lumpur or Kigali a young writer must now prove not only his talent but his humanity.”
Nazir did not respond to a request by the Guardian for comment.
