Boréal drops Orélien after AI tags found in draft metadata

Les Éditions du Boréal said on Wednesday it is ending its professional relationship with novelist Thélyson Orélien, after an outside party it hired found what it called traces of AI tags in the metadata of certain documents from the drafts of his novel C'était ça ou mourir, The Guardian Books reported. The publisher said it does not know the extent of AI's use in the writing process and said "we will likely never have a definitive answer."

Boréal had said just last week that it was standing by the 38-year-old writer, according to The Guardian Books. The publisher said it first tried to work with Orélien to gather evidence to prove his innocence, but that effort was inconclusive, and Orélien subsequently told the publisher he would not provide any further information.

Orélien has repeatedly denied the allegations. He told Libération he used AI "in the creative process" for "historical research," and earlier told Agence France-Presse he used tools "for research, particularly for foreign idioms" but that "not a single sentence in this book was created by a machine." The novel had been scheduled for translation in more than 20 countries and was withdrawn last month from France's Prix Goncourt list.