Before we could even take a breath to celebrate Simbarashe Steyn Kundizeza’s winning the 2026 Caine Prize for Writing, Vauhini Vara alleged in an article in The Atlantic that Kundizeza had used “AI” to write The Blue Fighter (pdf link).
The Caine Prize responded in a statement on their website.
Yesterday, Kundizeza released a statement of his own on Instagram.
HRB quite liked The Blue Fighter, and has been pleased to see Kundizeza emerging as one of the most interesting writers from southern Africa. Additionally, one may well have reservations about using so-called AI to test for so-called AI use. But the biggest problem with all of this is that “AI” has only been used as a tool against non-white writers, with multiple Black authors suffering penalties like losing their contracts (Jerry Falade), being removed from a literary prize longlist (Thélyson Orélien, from the Prix Goncourt; according to The Bookseller, he has since admitted to plagiarising in previous work), and/or otherwise being vilified very publicly for using “AI.” (Jamir Nazir, accused of using AI for his Commonwealth Prize-winning story, was cleared by the Prize.) No white writer who has had allegations against them has suffered even a fraction of the level of scandal and scrutiny.
(This is even without factoring in the allegations of plagiarism that led to the death of talented British academic Professor Jason Arday.)
For this reason, it is profoundly disappointing that Vara, a woman of colour herself, has offered herself up to participation in such a heinous and clearly racist process. Her motives for this are of course not clear—no one can know except Vara herself. However, HRB offers the following for context. This is Vara’s latest book, and a description from Goodreads.
Vara is both a published, well-received author and a technology reporter who has recently been writing about Pangram, the “AI” detector tool she used to test Kundizeza’s work (and all the works that have won the Caine Prize in the past). She also wrote an experimental essay in 2021 with the help of an earlier iteration of ChatGPT about the loss of her sister to cancer.
Also for context: Elnathan John said this in September on X/Twitter:
We all await the Caine Prize’s decision after their mediation process, but this entire affair has been distressing, not least for Kundizeza, naturally. HRB stands with him, no matter the results, and hopes he will continue to write and develop his craft. The broader conversation about “AI” use in writing has merit (see the last newsletter for lots of coverage of this); weaponising it against anyone who isn’t white has not.
This post expands on posts HRB made on Bluesky, Instagram, Mastodon, and Twitter.
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