Goncourt winner Philippe Jaenada admits using AI in his novel
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A day after winning the 2026 Goncourt Prize for "L'Inconnue du quai de Javel", Philippe Jaenada told France Inter he used AI three times while writing the book. His comments drew mixed reactions on social media.
Philippe Jaenada, who won France's top literary award, the Goncourt Prize, for his novel "L'Inconnue du quai de Javel", has admitted using artificial intelligence while writing it. Speaking on France Inter radio barely a day after the win, the 62-year-old said he turned to AI "three times".
He first had ChatGPT write a sentence that he slipped into the book in order to "play with the reader". He told the Goncourt jurors about it only on Tuesday. He also said he used AI to make fun of ChatGPT, which gives absurd answers about a technical piece of data, though he gave no further details. The third use was technical research. Jaenada argued that AI cannot be pushed away and that writers must use it, acknowledge it and "tame it" rather than be replaced.
His remarks were quickly picked up on social media. Some users said AI will become unavoidable, like a spellchecker today. Others were disappointed, with one fan on X saying they want to read authors who create by themselves. Another user questioned what playing with readers has to do with the novel.
The controversy comes weeks after Thélyson Orélien revealed he used AI to write part of his novel "C'était ça ou mourir". His book was removed from the second Goncourt shortlist and excluded from other prizes amid suspicions of AI use and plagiarism accusations. His Montreal publisher, Éditions du Boréal, ended its collaboration with him and said the book will not be reprinted.
Jaenada succeeds Laurent Mauvignier, the 2025 winner. His novel investigates the unsolved murder of a young woman in Paris in the late 1940s.
