It's the hot-button topic at the Frankfurt Book Fair: How profoundly will artificial intelligence (AI) transform the book industry, and how can this transformation be regulated?

Given the warnings about the technology's long-term risks to humanity as a whole, such debates might appear rather narrow in scope. In reality, however, they concern very concrete issues — copyright protection, the power of tech giants and the future of creativity. Many agree that the political measures taken don't go far enough.

This year, however, another aspect has entered the debate: Can we actually recognize when a text has been written with the help of artificial intelligence, and if so, can this be proven?

These are some of the questions raised by the current scandal surrounding Haitian-Canadian author Thelyson Orelien and his debut novel, "C'etait ca ou mourir," (This title means "It Was Either That or Die" in English but an English translation has not yet been published), which was published in Canada in the spring. 

The book about global migration was universally acclaimed, with translation rights sold in more than 20 languages. Soon after the book was published in France, it was longlisted for the prestigious Prix Goncourt.

But then, all of a sudden, allegations emerged that the book had been written almost entirely using AI. Orelien, a rising literary star, found himself branded a fraud despite denying all the allegations. His nomination for the Goncourt was withdrawn.

So, who should we believe? An author or an AI that claims to have identified AI-generated writing?

When the origins of texts become uncertain

"We will have to learn to live with doubt," says Hannes Bajohr, a professor of German literature at the University of California, Berkeley.

He has spent years examining how AI is changing both writing and reading. His prediction: If the origins of texts can no longer be reliably established, we will have to evaluate them differently. What matters will be their quality alone, rather than whether AI was used in the writing process.

Nina George, a best-selling author and the honorary president of the European Writers' Council, is unwilling to accept this.

At the Frankfurt Book Fair, she was awarded the Friedrich Perthes Prize in recognition of her commitment to issues such as AI and copyright reform.

George has addressed the European Parliament and the German Bundestag, speaking and writing tirelessly about the dangers of AI models. It is perverse, she says, that an author should suddenly have to prove that their writing is the creation of a human. The focus of her campaigns are the tech corporations' self-serving mentality and copyright protection.

Can anyone become an author with AI?

But what if an author sees AI not as an enemy but as a tool that makes writing easier?

US author and artist Luke Stoffel deliberately used AI in his memoir, "How To Win One Million Dollars and Shit Glitter," and was open about doing so.

"I'm dyslexic," he said in a video interview. "I've always written and made up stories, but I never dared to take them any further."

It was only with the help of AI, he said, that he was able to fulfill his dream. The technology drew his attention to weaknesses in his writing and suggested a marketing strategy that actually worked.

In May 2026, he received an award from the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) for the book.

For South African author Coral Hart, AI is actually the foundation of her business model. Publishing under various pseudonyms, each year she releases more than 200 different novels, spanning the genres of romance, thriller and mystery.

She sees herself as an ideas person, as well as an editor and publisher. Although none of her books has yet become a bestseller, the business is profitable, she says, and each book reaches more than 5,000 people according to her.

Many publishers already working with AI

Stoffel considers the entire debate hypocritical and points out that many publishers have been working with AI tools for some time. He's certain that "right now, a million-copy bestseller is being printed that was created with the help of AI. The author won't admit it, and then there'll be a scandal."

It is entirely possible that the scandal surrounding Thelyson Orelien is precisely that story. But we may never know for sure.

For now, the battle against the tech giants continues, some of which are themselves increasingly concerned about losing control.

At the very start of the Frankfurt fair, the German Publishers and Booksellers Association issued an appeal to policymakers in Berlin and Brussels, calling for stricter regulation of artificial intelligence, which they said is more urgent than ever. More than 140 publishers have signed it.

But for now, it remains just an appeal. And the question of what authors themselves should be permitted to do with AI will undoubtedly continue to fuel debates in the future.

This article was originally written in German.