Sports Illustrated Publisher Fires CEO Following AI-Written Articles Scandal

Navigate the Sports Illustrated AI controversy, revealing false author identities. Explore the fallout, CEO changes, and media ethics in this unfolding scandal.

on Dec 14, 2023

Sports Illustrated Publisher Fires CEO Following AI-Written Articles Scandal | Frontlist

The magazine was accused of releasing AI-generated pieces on its internet under false author identities.

Arena Group, Sports Illustrated's publisher, sacked CEO Ross Levinsohn in response to public outrage over the publication's use of artificial intelligence to generate articles. Manoj Bhargava was also named interim CEO of the company. The media powerhouse announced Mr Levinsohn's retirement on its website on Monday, at the same time that its board members met to consider ways to "improve (the company's) operational efficiency and revenue." The magazine was accused of releasing AI-generated pieces on its internet under false author identities.

On November 28, Futurism, a science and technology publication, brought the controversy to light. They claimed that some of the author biographies had nothing to do with genuine people. According to the site, Drew Oritz, who "has spent much of his life outdoors, and is excited to guide you through his never-ending list of the best products to keep you from falling prey to the perils of nature," writes on his profile. Drew spends almost every weekend camping, hiking, or just hanging out on his folks' farm these days." Mr. Oritz, on the other hand, does not appear to exist.

"He has no social media presence and no publishing background." Even stranger, his Sports Illustrated profile photo is for sale on a website that sells AI-generated headshots, where he's characterised as a "neutral white young-adult male with short brown hair and blue eyes," the source reported. They also stated that "the writing of AI authors frequently sounds like it was written by an alien."

"Today, an article was published alleging that Sports Illustrated published AI-generated articles," the magazine said on X on November 28. This is not correct, according to our preliminary investigation."

They blamed a third-party company, AdVon Commerce, and stated that they were in the middle of an investigation when the claims were made public. "The articles in question were product reviews from an external, third-party company, AdVon Commerce." Several AdVon e-commerce articles were featured on Arena websites. "We monitor our partners on a regular basis and were in the midst of a review when these allegations were made," they continued.

Furthermore, Sports Illustrated stated that the third-party company told them that all of the articles in question were written and edited by humans: "AdVon has assured us that all of the articles in question were written and edited by humans."

AdVon's authors, editors, and researchers develop and curate content and adhere to a policy that includes the use of anti-plagiarism and anti-AI software on all content. However, we have discovered that AdVon required writers to adopt a pen name or a pseudonym in specific pieces to protect author privacy - activities we strongly condemn - and we are removing the content while our internal inquiry is ongoing, and we have subsequently dissolved the agreement," they concluded.