NEWS: The Curious Case of Jerry Falade & Why We Should Follow This Story
- ella1525
- Aug 12
- 5 min read
Updated: Aug 24
{This Blog Will Be Updated As & When New Information Comes to Light}
Summary:
A story making the rounds in the UK this month is that of Nigerian postgraduate student: Jerry Falade, a debut writer whose signed $2 million book deal with Minotaur, an imprint of MacMillian US has been ripped up. In an interview with a reporter Jerry apparently claimed his US, UK and film deals were all cancelled in the space of six hours, following his agent’s unfounded AI accusations.
The scandal engulfing PhD student Jerry Falade must be very bad for his emotional health.
Far more worrying are the potential ramifications for others from the region who:
1. Win scholarships or funding to go study English Literature or Creative Writing
2. Will be judged by readers just because they are from a demographic
3. Will have their manuscripts scrutinised more rigorously
4. Who doors might close for because universities don’t want to be dragged into a mess
Who is Jerry Falade?
Jerry Adebayo Falade is a clever guy. He holds an MA from Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany and a Bachelor of Arts from Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria. He is currently studying for his PhD at a university in Texas - which I think began in 2025.
Jerry’s university profile states that his academic work explores the reconstruction of Black masculinity in contemporary African American and African diasporan literature. He is particularly interested in how mental health and Black male vulnerability are portrayed in the writings of authors such as Ta-Nehisi Coates and Marlon James.
Now more than ever is it important to save draft copies of your manuscript or written work.
If an agent can accuse an academic of using a large language model/LLM to write, who is safe?
"I advise you don’t even utilise AI to edit any freaking part of your document.
Some apps would suggest replacing words or rewriting sections of your work.
Many from the sub-region of Africa innocently don’t realise they mustn’t do that.
It’s called AI-assisted writing and is detectable.
I am NOT SAYING that the writer in question did that.
False positives are also possible with Pangram.
I’ve been able to glean more details about poor Jerry Falade’s cancelled book deal.
1. Allegedly the author claimed he only used AI for the Americanisation of text, punctuation and research into chemistry (it’s a crime fiction).
2. Earlier on, when the manuscript was being read, an Editor had allegedly raised concerns about possibly AI use. No screening was done because the author seemed credible. Also concerns were dismissed due to the possibility that Jerry uses English differently - he is an EAL speaker.
3. Jerry stated that he had time-stamped drafts, written notes and dated WhatsApp messages documenting development of the manuscript.
4. In the last week of July, EUROPA (aka the agents, Marc Gerald and Ashley Coleman), reportedly spoke with the author again for up to an hour; following this lengthy conversation, the agents were unable to conclusively say AI hadn’t been used to write or edit the manuscript beyond the basic spellchecking, Americanisation of words and punctuation corrections. [Paraphrased]
5. I can’t seem to find any published essays, stories or poems by J. Falade which makes it hard for a supporter to repost and show proof of human-authorship. Although not every writer sends out material to online outlets.
6. Falade's university (Southern Methodist University/SMU) apparently told a local media outlet KERA News, that the AI scandal has nothing to do with Jerry Falade's Uni course. They've chosen to distance themselves from the matter. I think this is disappointing, because the backing of an institution would’ve helped the début author’s credibility. Link: https://www.keranews.org/news/2026-08-13/generative-artificial-intelligence-southern-methodist-university-allegations
7. AI detection scores are inadmissible as standalone evidence in the UK, so beyond he said/she said, the agent’s case isn’t watertight at all.
8. Most discussion threads on social networking sites are focused on slagging off the writer, sadly. A few are alleging racism.
At some point Jerry’s Call Me, I’ll Hide the Body manuscript was run through the Pangram software. It came back with a reported 97% AI-generated score. Jerry insists he hadn't given his consent to have his manuscript run through an AI-detection app.
Why Was the Author Suspected of Using Generative-AI to Write?
It is alleged that the manuscript had some features of AI. I cannot confirm this, but some of those who were privy to the manuscript said that it seemed to show signs of AI writing. Again, what are the features of AI writing? They reportedly claimed the text had awkward contrasts, unusual metaphors, and plain, flat prose.
Disclaimer: Unrelated to the Case of Jerry Falade
AI-Edited Examples
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1. Basic spelling, grammar and punctuation corrections
President Tinubu writes in a word document: I IS the [bestest[ [Prsident] in Africa
Microsoft Word underlines the words [is], [bestest] and [Prsident] in red. He clicks on them and accepts the spelling corrections: [best] and [President] and adds the suggestion full stop. Microsoft Word changes is to am.
That is low level editing and is acceptable.
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b. In the Grammarly app, President Tinubu writes: My peoples* vote [are] important.
Grammarly suggest an apostrophe and a change to the verb number.
My peoples’ vote [is] important.
This basic sort of editing mainly done in word or Google is permissible.
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2. Level Two Editing
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President Tinubu types this in a word document: I IS the [bestest][Prsident] in Africa.
Copilot suggests a more formal version.
“I am not only the most outstanding, respected, and influential president in all of Africa, but I will have the longest term in office.”
As a machine has restructured Tinubu’s sentence and added more adjectives, the words were no longer his.
This type of edited poem/story/essay may well be flagged up by readers familiar with LLMs/ large language model vocabulary and an AI-detection tool.
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AI-Assisted Work Examples
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These are becoming increasingly harder to detect where a humaniser app built to turn AI-generated text from ChatGPT, Claude, Google Gemini, and more into writing that sounds natural and engaging while staying true to your original message (quoted verbatim from Grammarly) has been used.
1. A poet generates a free verse poem then changes some of the words or lines.
2. A poet or storywriter searches for eccentric literary devices such as metaphors, from ChatGPT.
3. A writer brainstorms then copies and pastes from an LLM into the body of their work.
Not acceptable.
Read more: Can publishers be held liable for unknowingly publishing AI-generated content which infringes the copyrights of a lawful owner? YES, says Jennifer Fitz.
Link to Post: AI Detection And The Sin Of Slander | Jennifer Fitz
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