Sports Illustrated accused of publishing AI-written articles

Sports Illustrated has removed articles after a report claimed the magazine published AI-generated articles under fake author biographies.

Tech publication Futurism first reported on the issue after finding the author headshots for sale on an AI-generated image website.

The Sports Illustrated union said staff were "horrified" and demanded "basic journalistic standards".

Sports Illustrated denies the report's claims, saying it "is not accurate".

A spokesperson for Arena Group, which owns Sports Illustrated, said in a statement that the the articles in question "were licensed content from an external, third-party company, AdVon Commerce".

"We continually monitor our partners and were in the midst of a review when these allegations were raised," Arena Group's statement continued.

The magazine's spokesperson said it was removing the content in question as it pursues an internal investigation. It has since ended its partnership with AdVon, the spokesperson added.

Advon Commerce, an e-commerce company that works with retailers and publishers, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Sports Illustrated union said that if the allegations were true, "these practices violate everything we believe in about journalism".

"We demand the company commit to adhering to basic journalistic standards, including not publishing computer-written stories by fake people," the union said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. "For nearly 70 years, SI staff members have held themselves to the highest possible ethical standards."

Arena Group said in its statement that AdVon had assured them "that all of the articles in question were written and edited by humans" and that AdVon actively uses "counter-plagiarism and counter-AI software on all content".

Arena Group contended, however, that it had only recently learned that AdVon allowed its writers to use pseudonyms "in certain articles" to protect their privacy.

This incident at Sports Illustrated comes as concern grows in the media world that generative artificial intelligence could cheaply replace journalists and potentially spread misinformation. Various newsrooms have experimented with AI or released guidelines for employees and audiences to explain their approach towards it.

Some newsrooms made headlines, however, after publishing AI articles that included errors or falsehoods. Others gained attention for not marking stories as AI generated.

Gannett-owned Reviewed was criticised for publishing AI-generated articles last month, though the company denied the claim.

Similar to Sports Illustrated, Reviewed allegedly published multiple articles that were written by authors who could not be found elsewhere online.

Numerous Sports Illustrated staff said they were appalled by the findings in Futurist's report, particularly as Arena Group has made large cuts to staff in recent years.

"I take seriously the weight of a Sports Illustrated byline," said Emma Baccellieri, a staff writer, on X. "It meant something to me long before I ever dreamed of working here. This report was horrifying to read."

Mitch Goldich, an editor at Sports Illustrated who leads the union, said the magazine had done "real damage to the credibility of the hardworking humans I have been honored to work with for the past 9 years".

He changed his name on X to "Mitch Goldich (human)" to further emphasise the point.