The parent company of Sports Illustrated is denying accusations that the popular magazine had published articles attributed to fake author profiles using fabricated bios and AI-generated photos after a report accused the outlet of doing so, including allegations that some of the content was also AI-generated. A report from Futurism published Monday featured several screenshots from the Sports Illustrated website that appeared to show the fabricated author profiles with profile pictures that also appeared to link back to a website that sells AI-generated headshots. “There’s a lot,” one source told the outlet of the fake authors. “I was like, what are they? This is ridiculous. This person does not exist.” Another source alleged that the content itself was, at least partially, generated using AI technology. “The content is absolutely AI-generated,” the source told Futurism, “no matter how much they say that it’s not.” Sports Illustrated Union later published a statement saying it was “horrified” by the report and demanded transparency from The Arena Group, Sports Illustrated’s parent company. “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 Al-generated content under SI’s brand with fabricated bylines and writer profiles. If true, these practices violate everything we believe in about journalism. We deplore being associated with something so disrespectful to our readers.”
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