The human writers at Sports Illustrated say they’re appalled by allegations that their upper management has posted AI-generated articles on their platform … and now, they’re demanding answers.
Futurism dropped a bombshell report on Monday alleging SI, for months, has been using AI to create fake authors as well as content.
The outlet reported Sports Illustrated would use images from a site that produces AI-generated headshots for fake author pages, and then would attribute stories to them. At times, according to the report, the stories would be AI-written too.
In a scathing statement released later Monday afternoon by SI’s writers — who call themselves the SI Union — they said they were “horrified” by the report … and they now want action from their parent company, The Arena Group, ASAP if it’s all found to be true.
“We demand answers and transparency from Arena Group management about what exactly has been published under the SI name,” the SI Union wrote. “We demand the company commit to adhering to basic journalistic standards, including not publishing computer-written stories by fake people.”
The Union also said in the statement they “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
@si_union
“For nearly 70 years, SI staff members have held themselves to the highest possible ethical standards,” they continued. “As members of the SI Union, we are proud to be part of that legacy and work every day to protect it. We expect management to do the same.”
According to Futurism, The Arena Group did not respond to questions about the alleged fabrications … though the outlet claims “all the AI-generated authors disappeared from Sports Illustrated’s site without explanation” after it reached out.
