SMU graduate student loses $2 million book deal after agent says he gave conflicting answers about AI use

Jerry Falade, a PhD student at Southern Methodist University, lost a publishing deal worth more than $2 million after his agent said he gave conflicting answers about using AI to write parts of his crime novel. Minotaur Books had acquired Call Me, I'll Hide the Body in a competitive auction that drew 13 other publishers.

Falade's agent, Marc Gerald, told The Bookseller that another editor raised concerns halfway through the submission process. Falade denied the allegations on social media. "I'm just a boy in my 20's," he wrote. "I don't understand why anyone is witch-hunting me." Publishing consultant Jane Friedman described an industry operating in "a world of both confusion and suspicion. No one really trusts anyone anymore." The U.S. Copyright Office ruled in 2025 that AI-generated content can only be copyrighted with "sufficient expressive elements" from a human, and prompts alone do not qualify. The incident follows Hachette's cancellation of a horror novel in March over similar AI accusations.