Short story accused of being AI-written wins overall Commonwealth prize

Jamir Nazir's short story 'The Serpent in the Grove', widely accused on social media of being AI-written, won the overall Commonwealth short story prize. The judging chair described it as 'original, poetic and deeply moving', while critics cited 'obvious markers' of AI use, leading literary magazine Granta to withdraw from publishing the winners.

Short story accused of being AI-written wins overall Commonwealth prize The Guardian Technology https://www.theguardian.com/us/technology Jamir Nazir’s The Serpent in the Grove, which critics allege has ‘obvious markers’ of AI use, was described as ‘original, poetic and deeply moving’ by the judging chair A story widely accused on social media of being written using AI has gone on to win the overall Commonwealth short story prize. Jamir Nazir’s story The Serpent in the Grove went viral after being named as a regional winner in mid-May, with critics on X and Bluesky claiming it showed “obvious markers” of AI use. The literary magazine Granta subsequently pulled out of its long-running agreement to publish the Commonwealth winners. Continue reading... Jamir Nazir’s The Serpent in the Grove, which critics allege has ‘obvious markers’ of AI use, was described as ‘original, poetic and deeply moving’ by the judging chair A story widely accused on social media of being written using AI has gone on to win the overall Commonwealth short story prize. Jamir Nazir’s story The Serpent in the Grove https://granta.com/the-serpent-in-the-grove/ went viral after being named as a regional winner in mid-May, with critics on X and Bluesky claiming https://x.com/nabeelqu/status/2056397504824963296 it showed “obvious markers” of AI use. The literary magazine Granta subsequently pulled out https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/jun/20/granta-magazine-commonwealth-short-story-prize-ai of its long-running agreement to publish the Commonwealth winners. Continue reading... https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/jul/01/judges-claims-ai-use-commonwealth-short-story-prize-jamir-nazir Get AI news in your inbox Daily digest of what matters in AI.