Sports Illustrated has removed articles after Futurism reported that the outlet published them under fake author names with AI-generated headshots. The revelation has sparked concerns about the growing use of AI in journalism.
On Monday, Nov. 27, Futurism reported that the headshots of these nonexistent writers were available for purchase on a website that sells AI-generated content. According to the report, a source involved in the creation of the authors confirmed that some of the articles attributed to the authors were also AI-generated.
The Arena Group has been Sports Illustrated’s publisher since 2019. The company addressed the allegations in a statement to media outlets.
The articles in question were product reviews and were licensed content from an external, third-party company, AdVon Commerce.
The Arena Group
“Today, an article was published alleging that Sports Illustrated published AI-generated articles,” the statement said. “According to our initial investigation, this is not accurate. The articles in question were product reviews and were licensed content from an external, third-party company, AdVon Commerce.”
The Arena Group statement also mentioned that AdVon Commerce writers use pen or pseudo-names for some articles.
Sports Illustrated is not the first outlet accused of experimenting with AI and not disclosing it. In October, USA Today’s product reviews site, Reviewed, faced accusations of publishing AI-generated articles.
Despite AI detection programs reportedly indicating otherwise, Gannett said that the articles were written by freelancers, according to The New York Times. USA Today currently has ethical guidelines that mandate disclosure when AI is employed in their content creation process.
