thepublishingtimes.comEditorial

The Publishing Times

All the News That’s Fit to Publish

publishing-news · Guides

Poll Finds Most French Adults Want AI Use Labeled on Book Covers

In an Ipsos bva-CESI survey, more than nine in ten respondents backed a mandatory cover mention of AI use, and 69% said a book written with AI is not real literature.

The Publishing Times Staff · October 29, 2026 · 3 min read

A large majority of French adults want any use of artificial intelligence in writing a book to be stated on its cover, according to a poll published on October 28 by Ipsos bva and the engineering school CESI. More than nine in ten respondents backed a mandatory cover mention, and 69% said a book written with AI "is not real literature."

The survey of 1,000 people aged 18 to 75 was carried out online from October 9 to 12. It was released days before the Prix Goncourt is awarded on November 3, and the pollster framed it around the dispute over Thélyson Orélien's novel, which has drawn questions from juries this season about plagiarism and the use of AI.

A line between human and machine

Asked about a book written wholly or partly with AI, 69% agreed it was not real literature and 22% disagreed. Only 25% said such a book could be as valuable as one written without AI, while 64% disagreed. Thirty-two percent saw it as a new form of literature in its own right.

The responses were not a flat rejection of the technology. Fifty-five percent agreed that such a book counts as literature "only if the human remains the main author." Transparency alone was not enough for most: 40% accepted that an AI-assisted book is literature as long as the AI use is disclosed, against 49% who disagreed.

Sixty-two percent said they would feel disappointed or deceived if they learned that a book they had loved was written entirely by AI. Twenty-seven percent said it would make no difference to them.

Labels and prize lists

Ipsos reported that more than nine in ten respondents want AI use in all or part of a book's writing to be shown on the cover. Asked which single measure would do most for the future of books, 66% chose a mandatory "written with AI" label on the books concerned, ahead of a publishers' charter or independent detection tools.

On literary prizes, 46% said a book suspected of having been written with AI should be withdrawn from a prize selection. Other approaches drew less support, including leaving the jury to judge the text on its merits, requiring public explanations, or deciding case by case.

The affair has reached well beyond literary circles, the poll suggests: 62% of respondents had heard of it, and 44% said they knew clearly what it was about. franceinfo reported the results the same day under the headline that the French "want transparency."

What the poll does not measure

The survey asked about attitudes, not purchases, so it does not show whether a label would change what readers buy. It also does not separate books written entirely by AI from those where a writer used the tools for research or editing; most questions refer to a book written "entirely or in part" with AI. Ipsos noted that the results arrive just before the main French literary prizes are announced in early November.

Sources