Star Metro - Canadian publisher supports novelist Orelien after AI denial

"A publisher should not demand proof from (its authors) but rather stand by them and that is what we are doing," Boreal said in a statement.

"In the absence of definitive conclusions, the novel will therefore remain available in bookstores," the statement said. "It will be up to each individual to decide what place to give it on their bookshelf."

The top-selling author has been accused of using AI to write his breakthrough French-language novel about migration titled "C'etait ca ou mourir," which was set to be translated in more than 20 countries.

The book has become shrouded in suspicion and been withdrawn from the shortlist for France's top book prize, the Goncourt, after tests with AI detector Pangram indicated a 100 percent probability it contained computer-generated text.

"They say that 'C'etait ca ou mourir' was written by an artificial intelligence. That's slander and heresy," Orelien said in a statement Tuesday.

"Here and there I did use tools for research, particularly for foreign idioms. But not a single sentence in this book was created by a machine, nor the meaning or the structure of a story that comes from my gut."

At the same time, Orelien also addressed evidence of plagiarism which emerged in media reports in the weeks after the AI claims, in particular over a newspaper column and a short story he wrote before the publication of his novel.

He admitted to "unacceptable mistakes" without mentioning any specific cases.

"I was just over 20, I was probably a little too impatient, without really understanding how much I still had to learn. I wanted to write, I was reading a lot... But admiring someone does not give you the right to take, to claim as mine texts that are not my own," he wrote.

"I deeply regret it and offer my heartfelt apologies without reservation."

O.Gauthier--SMC