Sports Illustrated Accused Of Using Articles By AI-generated Writers
A report published by Futurism featured screenshots of profiles and biographies featured on the Sports Illustrated website of some of their current authors. The problem with that information is that many of those authors do not exist.
After hearing rumors that Sports Illustrated was using AI-generated content, the parent company of the magazine, the Arena Group, denied the accusation. A spokesperson for the Arena Group blamed a third-party company for the fabricated author pages and denied that any actual content was AI-generated.
“The articles in question were product reviews and were licensed content from an external, third-party company, AdVon Commerce…We continually monitor our partners and were in the midst of a review when these allegations were raised,” the Arena Group spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
Sports Illustrated has long been known as the industry standard for sports magazines and online articles. As PJ Media described it, “In its heyday, SI was home to some of the best English language writers who used the short form of magazine writing to create achingly beautiful masterpieces.”
The use of AI-generated material has been a big hit to the writing and publishing professions in recent months. The content is not original and often sounds like it was created by robots, but it is also far cheaper to use Artificial Intelligence than it is to hire a human writer.
According to Business Insider, Sports Illustrated would not be the first online publication to use AI-generated content but it would be one of the most surprising. “The explosion in popularity of generative AI has raised fears that tools such as ChatGPT could be used to flood the web with substandard and plagiarized content,” the article stated.
According to Futurism, after they reached out to the Arena Group with the accusations, Sports Illustrated deleted the alleged AI-generated authors, reviews and content from its website.
The Sports Illustrated Union published a statement saying that they were “horrified” by the report and wanted transparency from the Arena Group regarding the claims.
“For nearly 70 years, Sl staff members have held themselves to the highest possible ethical standards. As members of the SI Union, we are proud to be part of that legacy and work every day to protect it. We expect management to do the same,” the statement reads.
