Caine Prize review finds no AI evidence in Kundizeza’s winning story

The Caine Prize for African Writing has confirmed Zimbabwean author Simbarashe Kundizeza as this year’s winner after an internal review found no evidence that his story was written using generative AI. The investigation followed an allegation published in The Atlantic, which sparked debate online and renewed concern about how AI accusations are being made against writers.

The prize said its human-centred review included interviews with Kundizeza, the judging panel and the journal that first published the story, alongside independent forensic analysis of his draft metadata. Kundizeza won £10,000 for “The Blue Fighter”, a story about a boy whose family struggles financially; he said it drew inspiration from a poem about fish tanks and fictionalised elements of his own life. He denied using AI.