Sports Illustrated scrubbed its site of AI-generated content that included bylines and photos for authors that don’t exist, according to a report.
The publication — once home to authors like John Updike, Hunter Thompson and Frank DeFord – used artificial intelligence to produce poorly written product reviews and posted them under bylines from made-up reporters whose photos could be found on a website used to buy AI-generated headshots, news site Futurism reported Monday.
After being contacted about the deceptive practice, the articles disappeared from SI’s site, the outlet reported.
SI is part of the Arena Group, which owns a slew of sites including Men’s Journal and TheStreet.
Last February, the company said it would use AI to produce some product reviews and other articles for its publications, the Wall Street Journal had reported.
However, that content has been allegedly bolstered by the use of deep fakes.
One writer by the name of “Drew Ortiz,” was described as enjoying “camping, hiking,” and being “back on his parents’ farm.”
His headshot, however, was found on a website with the description “neutral white young-adult male with short brown hair and blue eyes.”
Ortiz’s name disappeared from Sports Illustrated’s site entirely over the summer, but his profile page was redirected to a writer by the name “Sora Tanaka,” according to Futurism.
No writer exists by that name, the outlet found, but Tanaka’s profile picture is for sale on the same AI headshot marketplace as Ortiz.
She’s listed as a “joyful asian young-adult female with long brown hair and brown eyes.”
“Sora has always been a fitness guru, and loves to try different foods and drinks,” read Tanaka’s bio on the SI site. “Ms. Tanaka is thrilled to bring her fitness and nutritional expertise to the Product Reviews Team, and promises to bring you nothing but the best of the best.”
The Arena Group said a a third-party provider, AdVon Commerce, supplied the posts, according to Variety.
“AdVon has assured us that all of the articles in question were written and edited by humans,” the Arena rep told Variety.
Reps for AdVon Commerce did not respond to a request for comment from the publication.
Reports about the possible use of AI sparked outrage from members of the Sports Illustrated Union.
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“We, the workers of the SI Union, are horrified by a story on the site Futurism, reporting that Sports Illustrated’s parent company, The Arena Group, has published AI-generated content under SI’s brand with fabricated bylines and writer profiles,” the statement said. “If true, these practices violate everything we believe in about journalism. We deplore being associated with something so disrespectful to our readers.”
“We demand answers and transparency from Arena Group management about what exactly has been published under the SI name. We demand the company commit to adhering to basic journalistic standards, including not publishing computer-written stories by fake people.”
The Arena Group did not responded to Futurism’s request for comment.
Last month, Arena CEO Ross Levinsohn was sued by the company’s largest stockholder – former child actor-turned-crypto mogul Brock Pierce – for allegedly stonewalling his attempts to sell his shares to prevent the price from falling ahead of a sale, as the Post exclusively reported.
The Arena Group, formerly known as Maven, was acquired by Simplify Inventions in August, according to Sportico.
Arena reported $220 million in revenue last year, the outlet said.
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