Caine Prize clears Zimbabwean winner Kundizeza of using AI
The Caine Prize for African Writing said it found no evidence that Simbarashe Kundizeza used generative AI to write his winning story. It confirmed him as winner of the £10,000 ($13,000) award after The Atlantic raised the claim.
Zimbabwean writer Simbarashe Kundizeza keeps his Caine Prize. The award's organisers said an internal review found no evidence that he used generative AI to write his winning short story, The Blue Fighter, the BBC reported. Kundizeza had denied the allegation. Ellah Wakatama, chair of the Caine Prize's board of trustees, announced the outcome in a video posted on X. "From our detailed investigation, we feel the evidence is clear: The Blue Fighter was human written," she said. She added that the organisation had considered the allegations "carefully and fairly". Wakatama said the review took a "human-centred approach". It included interviews with the author, the 2026 judging panel and the Shallow Tales Review, where the story was first published. Investigators also analysed metadata from the author's drafts. According to a Caine Prize statement, an independent cyber security and digital forensic investigator carried out that analysis. The probe followed an article in the US magazine The Atlantic, headlined "Yet Another Literary Prizewinner Seems to Be AI". In it, journalist Vauhini Vara said the AI-detection software Pangram had flagged the story…
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