Azernews.Az

By Alimat Aliyeva

The Serpent in the Grove, which won the Commonwealth Foundation Award for Best Caribbean Short Story, has recently become the center of controversy due to suspicions that artificial intelligence may have been used in its creation, AzerNEWS reports.

The work of Trinidadian author Jamiz Nazir had already gained recognition prior to the scandal, including publication in the prestigious literary magazine Granta, which has featured works by numerous Nobel Prize winners over the years.

However, some critics and AI researchers argue that the story contains linguistic patterns and stylistic features commonly associated with neural network-generated text. AI researcher Ethan Mollick even described it as “potentially 100% AI-generated.” The story also reportedly received a maximum score from the Pangram AI detection tool.

The award organizers stated that they take these allegations seriously, but currently do not use specialized AI-detection software when evaluating submissions. Meanwhile, Granta acknowledged that it is impossible to determine with complete certainty whether the story was written by a human or AI.

The story itself is set in a mystical forest grove and is written in a highly poetic and metaphor-rich style. The jury praised Nazir’s language as both precise and expressive, noting his ability to create vivid, immersive imagery with remarkable restraint.

Interestingly, this case has reignited a broader debate in the literary world about whether AI-assisted writing should be eligible for literary awards at all — especially as AI-generated text becomes increasingly indistinguishable from human writing.

Jamiz Nazir has not yet publicly commented on the controversy.