Sports Illustrated Reportedly Created Fake Authors for AI-Generated Articles -- Complete With Phony Headshots and Bios

[Celerity]

https://www.mediaite.com/sports/sports-illustrated-reportedly-created-fake-authors-for-ai-generated-articles-complete-with-phony-headshots-and-bios/



Findings from Futurism suggest Sports Illustrated has been publishing AI-generated content and disguising it by including bylines and photos for authors that don’t exist. The report, published Tuesday, revealed that a number of headshots from SI’s authors could be found on a website used to buy AI-generated headshots. Futurism continued digging for answers but found no evidence the writers in question actually existed outside of SI’s website. Additionally, clicking on the names would open author pages complete with biographies and lists of hobbies.

A writer by the name of “Drew Ortiz,” for example, was described as enjoying “camping, hiking,” and being “back on his parents’ farm.” His headshot, however, was easily found on a website with the description “neutral white young-adult male with short brown hair and blue eyes.” “There’s a lot,” sources told Futurism. “I was like, what are they? This is ridiculous. This person does not exist.” “At the bottom (of the page) there would be a photo of a person and some fake description of them like, ‘oh, John lives in Houston, Texas. He loves yard games and hanging out with his dog, Sam.’ Stuff like that. It’s just crazy.”

Futurism also found that Sports Illustrated would regularly delete those authors and create new AI authors. They even went as far as changing bylines on previous articles from the old authors to the new ones. They emphasized that SI never included any editor’s notes about the change of byline. Unfortunately, the practice isn’t exclusive to Sports Illustrated. TheStreet, a financial publication also owned by publisher The Arena Group, was also found to be engaging in the same practices. Futurism discovered in February that Men’s Journal published an AI-generated article that was “riddled with errors.” The Arena Group did not responded to Futurism’s request for comment. After that request was sent, the AI-generated authors previously seen on Sports Illustrated’s site were removed without explanation.

Not long after Futurism published the story, the Sports Illustrated Union released its own statement claiming they were not responsible for the creation of AI-generated content. “We, the workers of the SI Union, are horrified by a story on the site Futurism, reporting that Sports Illustrated’s parent company, The Arena Group, has published AI-generated content under SI’s brand with fabricated bylines and writer profiles,” the statement said. “If true, these practices violate everything we believe in about journalism. We deplore being associated with something so disrespectful to our readers. “We demand answers and transparency from Arena Group management about what exactly has been published under the SI name. We demand the company commit to adhering to basic journalistic standards, including not publishing computer-written stories by fake people.”

Link to tweet

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[Apollo Zeus]

1. What a world

Oddly I am reminded of the early printings of "W. Shakespeare" including the 1599 collection of 20 sonnets. It was reprinted many times in the 10 years that followed. At least 15 of the sonnets were not by Shakespeare and it took until 1612 for the real authors to get credit.

Publishers have had the upper hand for 400 years. Patreon and similar entities are redefining the relationship between reader and author / journalist.

[Dorian Gray]

2. shaking my head

[mahatmakanejeeves]

3. That explains it.

Google news has been flooded lately with articles from SI about rodeo. SI has never covered rodeo, and now suddenly its articles are all at the top.

Where did these people come from?

Oh, now I get it. There aren't any people.

Thanks, and good morning.

[tenderfoot]

4. I'm wondering about the same thing with Newsweek

eom

[dalton99a]

5. Kick