It’s that time of year again. The giddy middle of May. When millions across the English-speaking world gather to find out who has been shortlisted for the Commonwealth Short Story Prize. 

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This year’s shortlist, drawn – as ever – from a diverse selection of not-European, not-male authors, is particularly enriching and profound. As the committee itself puts it, the stories ‘bring compelling characters to life in sharply drawn settings, exploring themes of power, family tension, resistance and unheard voices, alongside courage and unexpected connection. Among them are a keenly observant domestic worker, a young woman whose henna art enables silenced women to speak, and a resourceful young sheep farmer’. All of which makes it especially surprising to discover that at least one of the stories was allegedly written by a data centre in Texas. 

The story in question is ‘Serpent in the Grove’. The author is Indo-Trinidadian, and his biography on the Granta website – which has published the piece as the winner of the Caribbean regional award – describes him as ‘a prolific poet and author, with books published and others forthcoming, he is particularly known for his love of poetry.’ I’ll spare you the name. He is being eviscerated on social media, and I genuinely feel sorry for him. 

The allegations rest on several pieces of evidence. The weakest is that AI detectors flag the prose as 100 per cent machine-made. As someone who has used and written about these tools for years, I can tell you the detectors are highly........

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