The Mexican publisher Almadía announces that it will carry out a “detailed review” and will suspend activities related to the presentation of the work Where the Water Works, by David Silva Rojas, winner of its latest contest, after indications that attribute 99% of its text to the use of generative artificial intelligence.
The awarded work contains 99% of text generated with Artificial Intelligence, according to Pangram, one of the most reputable detectors.
The author was awarded 20,000 euros (about 415,000 Mexican pesos) in the first edition of the Almadía-Ventosa Arrufat International Short Novel Prize, a contest whose rules explicitly prohibited the use of generative AI tools in writing.
Through a statement issued after the ensuing controversy, the publishing house and the Ventosa-Arrufat Foundation said they would address the controversy “with seriousness” and “without jumping to conclusions,” with the aim of safeguarding commitments and readers’ trust.
“We deem it necessary to conduct a detailed review, without drawing premature conclusions and with the care required by an assessment that could affect a work and its author. While we carry it out, we suspend all activities related to the book’s presentation,” the company stated.
The Mexican publishing house stressed in its statement that the author signed under contract that he had not used this type of technology and that he personally confirmed this.
“We have no grounds to doubt his word,” the statement said, also backing the evaluation carried out by its jury during the verdict.
“During the reading of the novel, neither the jury — composed of Cristina Rivera Garza, Selva Almada and Mónica Ojeda — nor the editorial team felt that generative AI had been used,” he added.
The publisher warned, however, about the risks of delegating to machines the authority to judge the provenance of literary creation, reminding that automatic detectors require “interpretation and cross-checking”.
The imprint concluded that it will devote “the time and attention necessary” to the verifications, taking responsibility for the process while the world of books faces one of the first major ethical debates arising from AI in contemporary literature.