Sports Illustrated accused of publishing articles generated by artificial intelligence

US sports publication Sports Illustrated has been accused of publishing articles written by artificial intelligence.

Here's What We Know

According to an investigation by Futurism, Sports Illustrated published articles written by fictitious authors. The fake journalists also had photos and bios created by artificial intelligence.

For example, one profile page for purported author "Sora Tanaka" claimed to be a product reviewer. But as it turns out, Tanaka is not a real person.

Sports Illustrated's holding company, The Arena Group, denies the allegations. According to them, they are referring to promotional articles from a third-party company, AdVon Commerce.

However, other texts from non-existent authors have also come under suspicion. One article about volleyball was written under the pseudonym "Drew Ortiz" (Drew Ortiz). But, as in the case of Sora Tanaka, no Drew Ortiz exists - his bio and photo were also made up by artificial intelligence, Futurism found out.

Representatives of The Arena Group said they have severed their relationship with AdVon and removed their content. They also disapprove of the practice of publishing articles on behalf of fictitious individuals.

This scandal may damage the reputation of Sports Illustrated, which has previously won prestigious journalism awards. On the other hand, the media company is struggling financially and is experimenting with the use of AI to optimise costs.

At the same time, news outlets like The New York Times and The Guardian are critical of such practices and intend to defend original journalism.

Source: Futurism