Goncourt winner Philippe Jaenada admits using AI, reviving comparisons with Thélyson Orélien

Philippe Jaenada, who won the 2026 Prix Goncourt on Tuesday, November 3, for "L'Inconnue du quai de Javel," said the next day on France Inter that he had used artificial intelligence "three times" while writing the novel, 20 Minutes and The Guardian report. He said he slipped a sentence written by ChatGPT into the book to "play with the reader," revealed it only to the jurors, and used AI for some research. In his view, no one can pretend AI does not exist.

The novel says so itself, on pages 237 to 240: the author asks ChatGPT and Claude a technical question and quotes their answers, some of them wrong, 20 Minutes notes. The 62-year-old won in the first round, by six votes to three over Sylvain Prudhomme, according to The Guardian.

A double standard?

The admission has revived comparisons with Canadian-Haitian writer Thélyson Orélien. In September, the Académie Goncourt removed his debut novel, "C'était ça ou mourir," from its longlist, saying it was "in all likelihood very largely the product of an artificial intelligence," The Guardian recalls. Journalist Samuel Fitoussi had run the text through the AI-detection tool Pangram, whose reliability is disputed. Orélien has always denied using AI; his Quebec publisher, Boréal, later said it had new evidence that it was used.

On social media, users, amplified notably by AJ+ français, are asking why one writer was pushed out while the other was crowned. The Académie Goncourt, chaired by Philippe Claudel, has not responded, according to The Guardian.