AI controversy swirls around writer from Trinidad and Tobago who won a prestigious prize

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) — A prize-winning Caribbean writer from Trinidad and Tobago is embroiled in the latest controversy involving the use of AI for a creative work, after allegations that artificial intelligence was used to write a short story.The case went viral after the publisher issued a statement saying it asked Claude, an AI chatbot, whether artificial intelligence was used to create “The Serpent in the Grove” by Jamir Nazir.He was one of five writers who on May 14 were declared regional winners of the prestigious 2026 Commonwealth Short Story Prize, awarded by the London-based Commonwealth Foundation. The final winner will be announced in June.One judge described Nazir’s language as “sublime — precise yet richly evocative — conjuring vivid, lush imagery with remarkable economy.”But people quickly began questioning whether his story and others were written by or with help from artificial intelligence.

The scrutiny intensified after the publisher, Granta, said in a statement that it asked Claude whether the short story was generated by AI, adding that Claude concluded in a lengthy response that it was “almost certainly not produced unaided by a human.”

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