The Words Didn't Change, Regardless of Who Wrote Them
Techstrong.ai, Monday, September 28th, 2026
Writing should be judged on its merits, not on whether AI helped, argues a Techstrong.ai author citing the Goncourt controversy.
In a Techstrong.ai feature, the author uses the removal of Thelyson Orelien's novel from the Goncourt shortlist over alleged AI use, which Orelien denies, to ask what actually makes writing worse once AI involvement is suspected, since the sentences, characters and story did not change, only readers' beliefs about authorship.
The author discloses using ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity for research and sharpening ideas while keeping responsibility for the arguments and final manuscript.
The piece argues disclosure matters but 'AI-assisted' is too broad a label, since brainstorming, copyediting and generating text differ greatly.