It's the hot-button topic at the Frankfurt Book Fair : How profoundly will artificial intelligence (AI) transform the book industry, and how can this transformation be regulated?

Given the warnings about the technology's long-term risks to humanity as a whole, such debates might appear rather narrow in scope. In reality, however, they concern very concrete issues — copyright protection, the power of tech giants and the future of creativity. Many agree that the political measures taken don't go far enough.

This year, however, another aspect has entered the debate: Can we actually recognize when a text has been written with the help of artificial intelligence, and if so, can this be proven?

These are some of the questions raised by the current scandal surrounding Haitian-Canadian author Thelyson Orelien and his debut novel, "C'etait ca ou mourir," (This title means "It Was Either That or Die" in English but an English translation has not yet been published), which was published in Canada in the spring.

The…