The French Demand Transparency on the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Literature, Following the Thélyson Orélien Affair. According to an Ipsos BVA and CESI engineering school poll, over 90% of them want books to mention the use of AI on their cover when it has been employed.
A Controversy That Becomes a Societal Issue
62% of French people have heard about the affair involving this Canadian-Haitian novelist, accused of using AI to write his novel « C’était ça ou mourir », one of the flagship books of the French literary season. For the institute, the controversy has “far exceeded the circle of literature enthusiasts” to establish itself as “a genuine societal issue”.
The poll also shows strong distrust towards such texts. 69% of respondents believe that a book written with AI “is not real literature”.
A Demand for Transparency
92% of them want the use of AI for all or part of a book’s writing to be mandatorily mentioned on the cover. “Transparency is emerging as an unavoidable requirement”, the institute emphasizes.
The issue goes beyond informing the reader. Nearly half of French people (46%) consider that a book suspected of being written with AI should be removed from literary prize selections. This is what happened in September for « C’était ça ou mourir », which was excluded from the Goncourt Prize list due to accusations of plagiarism and AI use against its author.
The poll was conducted from October 9 to 12 on a sample of 1,000 French people aged 18 to 75, representative according to the quota method.
