Philippe Jaenada with his novel L’Inconnue du quai de Javel Credit Mehdi Fedouach/AFP via Getty Henry Samuel in Paris Show biography Henry's 2023 Sarkozy-Gaddafi trial coverage was cited in the European Parliament’s anti-corruption resolution, and the French culture ministry referenced his Louvre funding analysis during its 2025 budget negotiations 5:56pm GMT France’s most coveted literary prize has been awarded to an author who used artificial intelligence (AI) to write his book.

Philippe Jaenada, 62, won the Prix Goncourt on Tuesday for L’Inconnue du quai de Javel (The Unknown Woman of the Quai de Javel), an investigation into the unsolved murder of a young woman in post-war Paris.

This year’s prize was already engulfed in an AI scandal after a front-runner was excluded over allegations of computer-generated prose.

The winner – who prides himself on being an old-school author who does not even own a mobile phone – nevertheless incorporated his own research conversations with ChatGPT and Claude into his book.

Philippe Jaenada speaks to the media after winning the 2026 Prix Goncourt Christophe Petit Tesson/EPA/Shutterstock Defending his use of AI before the award, Jaenada asked: “Would a film director hide the fact that he uses special effects?”

He told 20 Minutes newspaper: “Very soon, we will no longer be able to assert that a text is 100 per cent written by a human. You could perfectly well imagine a novel with a chapter explicitly identified as written by AI.”However, he insisted that machines could never replace the emotional experience running through genuine literature.

“AI will never be human, by definition. It will never be able to write a book with its heart, its soul, its memories, its unique vision of things, people and the world.”Thelyson Orelien was punished for using AI Joel Saget/AFP via Getty His victory follows the disqualification of Thélyson Orélien a Haitian-Canadian writer, over AI allegations. Initially tipped to win the Goncourt, Orélien’s book C’était ça ou mourir (It was either that or die) was withdrawn from the shortlist and excluded from other literary prizes.

Tests using an AI detection tool suggested that more than 95 per cent of the text was machine generated, although the reliability of such programmes remains disputed. Orélien denies using AI to write his novel but has acknowledged plagiarism in earlier works.

C’etait ca ou mourir was pulled from the shortlist Reuters/Sarah Meyssonnier The scandal rocked the French publishing world and prompted the Académie Goncourt to amend its rules to exclude any work produced with the aid of AI.

“We are going to change it; we will adopt the new rules before the end of the year so that it is made clear in the Goncourt Prize regulations that the prize honours a work written by a human being,” Philippe Claudel, the academy president, told the press.

“I do think that, when you create a book, if you have used AI, you simply need to be very honest and say so,” said Antoine Gallimard, head of the eponymous publishing house. ‘It’s an honour’Speaking on the steps of Le Drouant, the Paris restaurant at which the prize is always awarded, Jaenada said: “For me, it’s a culmination; it’s an honour. I feel delighted.”The writer is known for his investigative works on unsolved crimes that draw on archive material and personal digressions.

He said he expected to be caught up in a “whirlwind” following the award of the Goncourt, while already longing to return to his life as a writer, poring over court records.

The nine members of the academy awarded him six votes, with three others going to Sylvain Prudhomme for De l’autre côté du lac (On the Other Side of the Lake), which follows a young photographer’s wanderings around a high-mountain nature reserve.