(RepublicanReport.org) – Sports Illustrated fell into hot water after allegations emerged that it was including content generated by artificial intelligence (AI). The Arena Group, which has owned the magazine since 2019, hasn’t admitted to any journalistic wrongdoing. Even so, the company removed all of its questionable content and claims to be conducting its own internal investigation into the flagged articles.
The company Sports Illustrated purchased the content from, AdVon Commerce, claims it only uses AI to supply headshots for its writers, who reportedly use pseudonyms and made-up bios solely for security purposes. It attests that all of its articles are both written and edited by human beings, not computers.
Futurism, which blew the lid on the potential scandal, expressed its doubts. It noted the apparent revolving door of new and erased phony writers for the magazine, which allegedly recycles their fleeting profile pages and periodically replaces old names and AI-generated profile pictures with new ones.
Variety states that the Arena Group, which went by Authentic Brands Group until 2021, owns over 265 brands. The company’s website describes itself as empowering its publications, employing award-winning journalists and content creators in the fields of sports, lifestyle, finance, and other subjects. A representative told Variety that the flagged articles were, in fact, product reviews, and all of them came from the third-party provider. They’d assumed AdVon’s curated content had followed a strict policy that included the use of software to detect AI as well as plagiarism. The company regularly monitors the content it receives and was reportedly in the process of reviewing the e-commerce articles when the allegations came to light. Representatives for AdVon have reportedly ignored direct media inquiries.
The Sports Illustrated Union released a statement on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, “demand[ing] answers and transparency.” The union members expressed pride in upholding nearly 70 years of journalistic excellence and integrity. They added that they expected their publication’s management to hold to the same high standards.
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