The Caine Prize for African Writing has confirmed Zimbabwean author Simbarashe Kundizeza as the winner of its annual £10,000 award, concluding an internal review that found no evidence his winning short story was generated by artificial intelligence. The decision follows a public dispute that intensified after a US magazine reported that AI-detection software had flagged the work as entirely machine-written.
According to MyJoyOnline and NewZimbabwe, the investigation was triggered by an article in The Atlantic by journalist Vauhini Vara, which alleged that software named Pangram showed Kundizeza’s story, titled The Blue Fighter, was AI-generated. The story depicts a boy whose family faces economic hardship. The publication noted that the accusation caused a social media uproar, with some African writers suggesting such scrutiny disproportionately targets non-white authors.
Ellah Wakatama, who leads the prize’s board, stated in a video posted on X that the organization took a "human-centred approach" to the review. She explained that the process involved conversations with the author, the 2026 judges, and the literary journal that first printed the piece. The prize organization also commissioned a specialist in digital forensics to examine the metadata of the author’s drafts, according to a statement cited by Nile Post.
Kundizeza, who lives in Harare, has denied the AI allegation, telling the BBC that his inspiration came from a poem read by South African poet Vangile Gantsho at an event in Ghana. The poem described her father’s obsession with building fish tanks, which Kundizeza wove into a narrative based on fictionalized memories from his early 2000s life in Zimbabwe. He won the award earlier in October, and the confirmation of his status came after the recent review.
The resolution adds to a year of debate over AI in literature, which has seen similar controversies surrounding the Commonwealth Short Story Prize and France’s Goncourt award. Vara, who initiated the Caine Prize scrutiny, told BBC’s Front Row programme that previous Caine Prize winners she tested with Pangram had been identified as 100% human-written, highlighting the specific nature of the current dispute.