Sports Illustrated is the latest media company damaged by an AI experiment gone wrong

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Sports Illustrated has become the latest casualty of an AI experiment gone awry, tarnishing its reputation in the process. In an era where artificial intelligence is making its presence felt in various industries, including journalism, the magazine’s attempt to embrace this technology has backfired.

While Sports Illustrated initially denied using artificial intelligence to write its articles, a report by Futurism revealed that the publication had been using unidentified authors for product reviews. These authors, such as Drew Ortiz, were linked to AI-generated portraits found on a website. When questioned about this, Sports Illustrated removed all such authors with AI-generated profiles from its website without offering an explanation.

Furthermore, Futurism’s report quoted an anonymous source from the magazine confirming the use of artificial intelligence in content creation, contrary to their initial denial. Sports Illustrated attributed these articles to a third-party company called AdVon Commerce, which had assured the magazine that humans had written and edited the content. AdVon had used pen names for their writers, a practice disavowed by Sports Illustrated. The magazine announced the removal of the content and the termination of its partnership with AdVon pending an internal investigation.

The Sports Illustrated Union expressed its dismay at these revelations and demanded transparency from Arena Group management regarding what content had been published under the magazine’s name. They insisted on upholding basic journalistic standards, including not publishing computer-generated stories by fictitious authors.

This incident is not an isolated one. Gannett faced a similar situation when it paused an experiment that used AI to generate articles about high school sports events, causing errors and leading to negative publicity. CNET also used AI to create financial service articles attributed to “CNET Money Staff” without clear disclosure to readers, only addressing the issue after it was exposed by other publications.

In contrast, some companies have been more transparent about their use of AI in content creation. Buzzfeed, for example, openly attributes articles to both human writers and their AI assistant, Buzzy the Robot. The Big Big News has been using technology to assist in articles since 2014, always including a note at the end of stories to explain technology’s role in production.

In conclusion, while AI has the potential to enhance content creation, transparency is key. Media organizations should be forthright about the use of AI in their articles to maintain trust with their readers and uphold the values of truth and transparency that are central to journalism.

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