Kundizeza, who recently won the £10,000 Caine Prize for African Writing, maintained that he authored the story himself after AI-detection software, Pangram, reportedly classified the work as entirely AI-generated.
“For the avoidance of doubt, I wrote The Blue Fighter,” he declared in a statement posted on X, amid growing debate over the use of AI in literature and concerns about the reliability of detection tools.
The controversy has generated widespread reactions on social media, with several African writers, publishers and literary commentators questioning the basis of the allegations and warning against relying on automated technology to judge literary originality.
“I do wish The Atlantic had spent more time investigating this so that alongside Pangram, they did have evidence of real human investigation of it before tainting the prize and tainting this winner,” Wakatama said during the BBC's Front Row programme.
She disclosed that she was contacted about the allegations on Friday, while Vauhini Vara's article, titled Yet Another Prizewinner Seems to Be AI, was published on Sunday.
Wakatama argued that while AI tools could potentially assist in examining literary submissions, their findings should not be treated as conclusive evidence of misconduct. She also expressed concern about the implications of using developing technology to assess the work of Black and African writers.
“I am not happy for the work of writers, and in this case especially black writers, to form the testing ground for something that is at best still rough and ready,” she said.
Her comments have added to a wider discussion about the fairness of AI-detection systems, particularly when their assessments could affect the reputations and careers of writers.
The dispute comes amid other controversies involving literary awards this year. Trinidadian writer Jamir Nazir faced allegations of AI use after winning the Commonwealth Short Story Prize, while Canadian-Haitian author Thélyson Orélien withdrew from consideration for France's prestigious Goncourt Prize over allegations concerning his debut novel, which he has denied.
In the case of Kundizeza, the allegations have also prompted questions about whether African and other non-white writers are being subjected to disproportionate scrutiny.
Wale Lawal, founder of Nigerian magazine The Republic, criticised The Atlantic's report, describing it as “crazy, racist and wildly unethical”.
Zimbabwean writer Joe Ruzvidzo also expressed support for Kundizeza, saying it was time “to fight this literary stop-and-frisk”.
Similarly, Nigerian publisher Modupe Daramola called for a broader discussion about the treatment of Black and African writers in disputes involving AI detection.
“There's something incredibly sinister about this,” Daramola, publisher at Noisy Streetss Limited, wrote on X.
“Pangram is itself AI-powered. Why should its assessment be treated as definitive?” she added.
Wakatama confirmed that the Caine Prize had begun an internal investigation into the allegations. As part of the process, Kundizeza is expected to submit documentation showing the development of his story, including its various drafts. Discussions are also ongoing with the prize's judges and The Shallow Tales Review, the publication that first published The Blue Fighter in 2025.
In his response, Kundizeza said he had a “concrete, documented history” of the story's inspiration and outlined the chronology of its development.
Wakatama explained that entries for the Caine Prize, which must have been published previously, were not routinely screened for AI use. Instead, writers were required to attest that their submissions were original.
Although she did not rule out the possible use of AI-detection tools in future assessments, she opposed treating their results as the final authority in cases of alleged misconduct.
Research has shown that AI detectors can incorrectly classify human-written material as machine-generated. Vara acknowledged this limitation, conceding that any AI-detection product, “including one as good of Pangram” was “not going to be 100% accurate”.
In her article, Vara cited Pangram's internal research and a recent paper by researchers at the Free University of Brussels. The study reportedly found no errors by Pangram and two other detection tools when examining English-language writing by non-native speakers. However, the researchers advised that such tools should be treated “as an initial flag for further investigation”.
Speaking on the BBC's Front Row, Vara said she had also relied on her own judgment when assessing the story. She explained that she had tested previous Caine Prize-winning stories using Pangram and that they had all been classified as entirely human-written.
Vara also said she examined an earlier story by Kundizeza, published in 2021, which Pangram similarly identified as human-written. She argued that the earlier work differed considerably in tone from The Blue Fighter, a contrast that contributed to her suspicions.
Kundizeza rejected the suggestion that stylistic differences indicated AI involvement, arguing that writers could develop their skills and experiment with different genres over time.
“To suggest that a writer cannot write in different styles or genres, or improve his writing substantially after five or more years fundamentally misunderstands the craft of writing,” he wrote.
Vara also pointed to the story's use of sentence structures contrasting two ideas, such as “X but Y”, which she said were common in AI-generated texts. One example she cited described the mother in the story as acting “Not with anger, but with the quiet resignation of someone who had known all along this moment would come.”
She also highlighted the story's use of metaphors, which she said appeared frequently in AI-generated writing.
However, such stylistic observations have not established that the story was written using AI, and the Caine Prize's investigation remains central to determining the circumstances surrounding its creation.
Beyond the dispute, Kundizeza has provided an account of the personal experiences and literary influences that inspired the story.
Speaking to the BBC the day after receiving the award, he said the idea emerged after he attended an event in Ghana the previous year, where South African poet Vangile Gantsho read a poem about her father's obsession with building fish tanks.
Kundizeza said he combined that inspiration with fictionalised elements drawn from his own family history during Zimbabwe's economic difficulties around 2002.
“Much like the father in the story, my own dad... was an accountant, but he quit his job to grow tomatoes. So it kind of touches on both of our fathers,” he told BBC Newsday.
The account has formed part of his defence against the allegations, as the literary community awaits further findings from the prize organisers.
Despite the controversy, Kundizeza has expressed gratitude for the support he has received from fellow writers and readers.
In a post on X, he said he was heartened by “the numerous messages of solidarity from fellow writers and readers”, concluding with a firm declaration of his determination to continue his literary work: “Most importantly, I will continue to write.”