Granta published a likely AI-written story as a prize finalist
Granta has published a story that is suspected to be written by AI as a finalist for a literary prize. The story, titled 'The Serpent in the Grove,' was flagged by an AI detection tool as likely not human-written. The Commonwealth Foundation is currently reviewing its selection process in light of this incident.
- ▪The story was selected from over 7,800 entries for the Commonwealth Foundation Short Story Prize.
- ▪Ethan Mollick, a Wharton professor, used an AI-detection tool that indicated the story had 100% red flags for being AI-generated.
- ▪The author, Jamir Nazir, has a minimal digital presence and is noted for a self-published poetry collection.
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Granta published a likely AI-written story as a prize finalist Ellsworth Toohey 1:16 pm Tue May 19, 2026 Boing Boing / Google Gemini Ethan Mollick, the Wharton professor who studies AI adoption, ran "The Serpent in the Grove" through Pangram — an AI-detection tool that claims 99% accuracy — and got 100% red flags. The story had been selected from 7,806 entries as a Caribbean regional finalist for the Commonwealth Foundation Short Story Prize and published in Granta. Its author, Jamir Nazir, is listed as a 61-year-old Trinidadian writer of East Indian heritage with a self-published 2018 poetry collection on Amazon and almost no other digital footprint — except a LinkedIn profile full of AI evangelism, according to Brittany Allen at Literary Hub.
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