Commonwealth Prize Under Review After AI Detection in Winning Stories
The Commonwealth Foundation is investigating five regional winners of its prestigious short story prize after readers and AI researchers flagged signs of artificial intelligence in the submitted work.
John Edward DeMicoli, a Maltese author, won the European and Canadian category for his story The Bastion's Shadow. The prize, which awards £2,500 to regional winners and £5,000 to an overall winner, accepts unpublished fiction between 2,000 and 5,000 words from writers across the Commonwealth's 56 member states.
Following the announcement in May, an article in the UK Independent highlighted concerns raised online. AI researcher Nabeel S Qureshi pointed to what she called "obvious markers of AI writing" in Trinidad and Tobago writer Jamir Nazir's entry, including repetitive sentence structures and common ChatGPT patterns.
An AI detection tool flagged DeMicoli's story as fully generated by artificial intelligence. Another winning story by Indian writer Sharon Aruparayil showed partial AI generation according to the same detector.
The Commonwealth Foundation said it had "taken steps to understand and query the allegations" through reviewing available evidence. The foundation acknowledged AI as a significant issue in the creative sector while defending the independent judges who selected the stories.
"We also recognise that at this time, we have a duty to both respect the choices made by the independent panel of experts, experienced judges who selected the stories, and to support all of the writers involved in the prize," the foundation said.
Granta, which is publishing the winning stories, added a note above DeMicoli's work stating: "This year, there has been speculation that some of the stories may have been at least partially AI-generated. The suggestion that writers have submitted material not authentically their own is a charge we take seriously, but until definite evidence comes to light we will keep these stories on our website."
DeMicoli declined to comment when contacted about the allegations.
The investigation comes as writers and literary institutions grapple with disclosure and authentication standards for AI-assisted work. The Commonwealth Foundation will announce the overall winner on June 30.
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