African writing award probe finds 'no evidence' winning story was AI generated

What the report says

The Caine Prize for African Writing says an internal review found no evidence that Zimbabwean writer Simbarashe Kundizeza used generative AI to produce his winning short story, The Blue Fighter. The prize organization has confirmed him as the winner of this year’s £10,000 award after accusations raised in a U.S. magazine prompted concern online.

According to BBC Africa, the prize’s chair, Ellah Wakatama, said the investigation examined the author’s drafts, interviews with Kundizeza, the judging panel and the journal where the story first appeared. The organization also said an external cyber security and digital forensics expert reviewed metadata from the drafts. Wakatama said the evidence showed the story was human written.

Kundizeza, who lives in Harare, had already denied the allegation. BBC Africa reported that he said he drew inspiration from a poem heard at an event in Ghana and combined that with fictionalized elements from his own life during Zimbabwe’s economic downturn in the early 2000s.

The case comes amid wider debate over whether AI tools are being used in literary competitions, with similar disputes affecting other awards in recent months. The episode has also prompted backlash from some African writers, who argued that such suspicions are often directed at non-white authors.