07 June,2026 08:14 AM IST | Mumbai | Debjani Paul
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We've reached a point where one wonders about any new writing emerging post-2025 - is this all human created?" says Anish Chandy, founder of Labyrinth Literary Agency.
It's a question mark that has rocked the literary world in the past fortnight, with three out of five regional winners of Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2026 facing allegations of using AI.
"Whatever happened with the Commonwealth Prize is unfortunate, but I expect more of that to happen. AI intervention is already in books all around us, we just don't know it yet," says Chandy.
Last month, Nobel Prize-winner for literature Olga Tokarczuk said she uses AI to help develop ideas, often asking it, "Darling, how could we develop this beautifully?" Closer to home, actor-author Prajakta Koli sparked a furore two months ago on revealing that she had used ChatGPT to draft the acknowledgements section in her novel, Too Good to Be True. Both authors maintain that they did all of the creative fiction writing on their own, but were still slammed zby critics online. Sunday mid-day's attempts to reach out to Koli and her publisher, HarperCollins India, went unanswered.
As for the Commonwealth Prize snafu, many have pointed to the verdict of an AI detector software - which, ironically, is AI too - to support the allegations. Such software is notorious for false positives. We fed a similar programme one of our own stories dating back to 2012 - long before we'd ever heard of Artificial Intelligence - and the website flagged it as 70 per cent AI. Far from foolproof!
Granta, which published the Prize-winning stories online, has said that "perhaps we never will know" if they were authored by human or AI. It's a terrifying admission. Even two years ago, AI "writing" was easily identifiable as a lazy mimicry of literature. But if a story drafted with the help of AI can pull one over the jury of a prestigious award then what hope is left?
The truth is, Large Language Models (LLMs) are so advanced that the binary of "human writing = good, AI = slop" is no longer true.
Now here's the truly scary question: If we can no longer tell the difference between the two, are we looking at a future where AI books will compete with human literary efforts, both in bookstores and awards?
Natasha Joshi, director of The Deodar Prize, says we need a more robust ecosystem to support young writers
Closer to home, Natasha Joshi, director of The Deodar Prize, is watching the Commonwealth Prize controversy closely. Interestingly, the Asian winner of the Commonwealth Prize, Sharon Aruparayil - who is among those accused of AI usage - had been shortlisted by The Deodar Prize last year, for a different story: Phoron for The Forgotten. Its visual imagery left an impression on Joshi.
The Deodar Prize does not accept AI submissions. Award juries and editors at publishing houses can still pick out AI's "handiwork" from genuine human expression, she says. "If you have read very deeply, you will not enjoy AI writing. You can see clearly what it is trying to sound like."
Unlike a layperson who might point to a "Not X, but Y" sentence structure Âas a tell-tale sign of AI usage - a method that is not foolproof - "one thing experienced editors are able to identify is âvoice'," says Joshi. "It's well recognised that AI doesn't have a voice because it's a lowest common denominator of others' voices. Even if you train it on a style, maintaining emotional salience, moving a plot forward and offering an original voice all together seems too much for the model. I'd still bet on the jury who have read so widely and deeply to pick out any foul play."
The Deodar Prize is aimed at encouraging new voices in Indian fiction. These very voices are most vulnerable to allegations of AI usage because of the LLM boom since 2025. Many have taken to changing their style to sound less like AI.
"Young writers are very vulnerable. Creativity is a fragile thing; it's a deeply frustrating, self-doubt-ridden process. And yet people do it, right? I think we have to believe that people want to write. I'm more interested in the support gaps that AI has highlighted. In India, our ecosystems for supporting writers is impoverished. So when there is no other place to get assistance and feedback, of course you turn to AI. How can we change this?"
As for whether AI books will ever eclipse human literary efforts: "My sense is that most people will just not want to read it. Human endeavour, surpassing all limits, is what makes art incredible. A robot jumping 100 metres is not an athlete, and an LLM coughing out text is no writer."
âAs AI technology improves and the quality becomes more sophisticated, we too will inevitably use it more meaningfully. But at the moment, Roli still does not accept AI-generated manuscripts or images in terms of manuscripts and visual material. With much of what we currently receive, it is still somewhat obvious when something is AI-generatedâ¦
The larger challenge for publishers now is that we are entering a much greyer area where AI can produce technically competent, even impressive work. But publishing is not only about technical competence. It is also about authenticity, lived experience, originality of thought, and cultural perspective.
I also think the industry will eventually need clearer ethical and editorial guidelines around disclosure. Like schools and universities, publishing may eventually move in a similar direction, where disclosure becomes a natural part of
the process.'
Priya Kapoor, publisher, Roli Books
âAs of today, Penguin Random House India's position is that we cannot acquire a work which has been produced (even partially) using AI. If a work has been AI generated, then the author is not able to assert copyright over the entire work. As per our publishing licence agreement, the author gives an undertaking that the work is "original" and that he is the sole copyright owner of the work.
We use an AI detection tool which gives you a percentage estimate of the extent to which a document may have been AI-generated instead of simply giving a yes or no answer. But that alone cannot be considered a foolproof way of determining AI usage in text. Editorial judgement is important, as is full author disclosure, and I believe most traditional publishers at some point will change submission guidelines to reflect this. AI-generated and assisted books are actively being published and sold and are almost certainly going to become more common in the coming future.
The question of awards is more complex. We're now seeing different institutions and prize bodies evolving policies around AI involvement. Though most of the prestigious literary awards still strictly mandate that all nominations to be human-generated. This is still a rapidly evolving space.'
Gurveen Chadha, executive editor, Penguin Random House India
âThe Commonwealth Prize incident was an anomaly; some part of the process obviously broke down. It's not a problem we have encountered yet. One relies on publishers for this gatekeeping, as they have a lot more to lose. The real question is, will readers actually care if something has been created by AI if it is as pleasing as a human creation? And what we've seen so far is that there is definitely a pushback from readers against AI.'
Antoine Lewis, programming director, Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest
Literary agent Anish Chandy says AI is already part of the publishing world, but it doesn't have to be all bad
For Anish Chandy, the issue is far more nuanced than just "AI is bad". The founder of Labyrinth Literary Agency fields hundreds of queries a month from new writers, some of whom have used AI.
"For fiction - a creative exercise - AI is a real problem," he says, It's not so black and white when it comes to non-fiction though. "Let's say someone has done the legwork in rural Maharashtra for an investigative piece. They may not be able to articulate that story in English. AI can help them with that so they reach a wider audience. The ethics here are similar to using a ghostwriter." There is no escaping the AI problem, he says. "This is not a future hypothetical. They're [AI books] already on bookstore shelves."
The industry is starting to adopt the technology too. Take Meru Gokhale, former editor-in-chief at a top publishing house who now runs her own AI-assisted editing platform, editrix.ai.
The key, says Chandy, is transparent declaration. At his own agency, "if we suspect AI usage, we ask people to declare it". "If it is fully AI-written, we don't accept it. For projects that we do accept, we are transparent with the publisher."
Ahalya Naidu, co-founder of Trilogy bookstore, says AI is exploitative of writers
In the US, bookstore chain Barnes & Noble said they willing to stock AI-written books as long as they were labelled as such. We ask Ahalya Naidu, co-founder of Trilogy Curated Bookshop and Library in Bandra whether that's the future for bookstores and literary awards in India too. "I hope we never get to that day," she says, "If any book that we have on our shelves, turns out to be AI-created, we'd be glad to take it off, to make room for good writers who respect their craft, their voice."
"What do we really hope to achieve by granting a prize for creativity to a tool that affects the environment, is built on uncredited, copyright protected work, and for all its costs, could be put to better use?" she questions. "To say a tool is as good as a human writer, is to devalue the human, while blocking the door for all well-meaning, truly talented writers. How is that okay?"
The problem is a lack of transparency. "Be upfront, whether you are a first-time or a bestselling writer, or a publisher who thinks this is the way of the new world, or an illustrator who genuinely feels AI is creating art - just own it. Do not hide it, don't wait to admit it only when someone calls you out... Respect the reader enough to let them make an informed choice.
"As an editor, librarian, and bookseller, I don't think it is necessary to use generative AI. These tools are ultimately exploitative and extractive. That prompt you send out, comes back riding on the back of stolen work made by real people, some of whom spent their lifetimes perfecting that character, that turn of phrase, that act of fluency that you will later claim as your own."
Instead, she champions hiring an illustrator, or an editor, or bringing in a co-author to help with any limitation.
"And give them credit and compensation!"
Jerry Pinto, award-winning author and jury chair for the JCB Prize 2024, says AI can never be more than a copycat
As an author who has won multiple awards - including the Sahitya Akademi Award for his debut novel, Em and the Big Hoom - and as someone who has presided on multiple juries for literary awards, Jerry Pinto is familiar with both sides of the equation.
"I'm fairly sure some genre authors are already using AI. If they do not tell us, we might never know. It will depend on the honesty of the writers and the sagacity of the editors and readers," he says.
That discernment counts for a lot, it turns out. In March, when readers in the UK pointed out that Shy Girl, a femgore novel by Mia Ballard had the markers of AI-generated text, publishing giant Hachette pulled the book from the market altogether.
Pinto remains firm, though, that AI can't replace human creativity. "There is a weakness in AI - it is not artificial intelligence, it is artificial plagiarism. It's always learning to sound more like us, but we will keep moving forward. It will always be one step behind us."
The same human creativity will also ensure, however, that AI subterfuge gets smarter. "A woman once told me of how she fooled a university into accepting her PhD thesis, by buying a Turnitin [anti-plagiarism software] licence, revising and feeding her thesis into it repeatedly until it was no longer flagged by the software. Who's to stop someone doing that with AI in books?"
Despite that bleak prediction, Pinto insists, "People who write, feel the need to write. Even if AI is writing some great novel at this point in time, I'll be writing my novel anyway. And if AI does a better job than me, that's my problem. I'm going to have to sharpen my skills. But you can't put the genie back in the bottle."
