Sports Illustrated CEO fired after AI-generated articles get uncovered
Sports Illustrated's parent company, The Arena Group, fired its CEO Ross Levinsohn due to a scandal involving articles and fake author profiles generated through artificial intelligence (AI). Levinsohn, who was CEO for three years, has been replaced by interim CEO Manoj Bhargava, the founder of 5-Hour Energy and majority stakeholder in The Arena Group. This comes after the firing of three top executives last week: operations president and COO Andrew Kraft, media president Rob Barrett, and corporate counsel Julie Fenster.
What's the controversy?
In November, an investigation by Futurism revealed that Sports Illustrated published articles written by fake authors with AI-generated headshots and biographies. One person involved in the creation of Sports Illustrated content told Futurism, "The content is absolutely AI-generated, no matter how much they say that it's not." Since its launch in 1954, Sports Illustrated has been known for its swimsuit editions featuring fashion models, athletes, and celebs in bikinis.
Bogus profiles mimicking real individuals' traits
Futurism discovered a fake profile under the name "Sora Tanaka," pretending to be a product reviewer. Her page said: "Sora has always been a fitness guru, and loves to try different foods and drinks. 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 fact is, Sora Tanaka is not a real person.
Arena Group's response to allegations
The Arena Group initially denied the allegations, claiming the articles were sourced commercial content from a third-party advertising company, AdVon Commerce. "AdVon has assured us that all of the articles in question were written and edited by humans." "However, we have learned that AdVon had writers use a pen or pseudo name in certain articles to protect author privacy - actions we strongly condemn." The company has since cut ties with AdVon and removed its content from Arena websites.
'AI would never replace journalism'
After a round of layoffs earlier this year, Levinsohn mentioned that Sports Illustrated would use AI in its journalism but insisted it would never replace journalism. In February, he stated, "While AI will never replace journalism, reporting, or crafting and editing a story, rapidly improving AI technologies can create enterprise value for our brands and partners."
