An article published on the website Futurism Monday alleges Sports Illustrated used artificial intelligence to generate sports articles.
Futurism's reporting says AI was used to generate the text of the articles as well as reporter headshots and biographical information.
A person "involved with the creation of the content," who requested anonymity, told Futurism that Sports Illustrated had published content from several such AI-generated authors.
In a statement on X Monday, the Sports Illustrated Union said it was "horrified" by the reporting and demanded an explanation from The Arena Group.
"If true, these practices violate everything we believe in about journalism," the union wrote. "We deplore being associated with something so disrespectful to our readers."
Our response to today’s story from @futurism reporting that The Arena Group has published AI-written stories by fake people under the Sports Illustrated name: pic.twitter.com/QcR4iGOi5w
— Sports Illustrated Union (@si_union) November 27, 2023
Also on Monday, a representative for The Arena Group told Scripps News the allegations in Futurism's article were not accurate.
"The articles in question were product reviews and were licensed content from an external, third-party company, AdVon Commerce," The Arena Group said in a statement. "AdVon has assured us that all of the articles in question were written and edited by humans."
The Arena Group said it has since ended its partnership with AdVon and has removed the articles in question while it investigates the matter.
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