SI’s AI Reckoning

11/30/2023

By: Jeff Yoder

Sports Illustrated in Hot Water After 3rd Party’s AI-Generated Content

I’ve had multiple conversations with peers over the years in regard to the future of journalism and the looming impact of Artificial Intelligence. Now, we’re seeing the first fruits of this bizarre new world. Legacy sports mag Sports Illustrated came under fire this week as the latest media company to get tagged for using AI-generated content on its website. The details are murky, and the wild world of the internet continues to serve as a masking agent for shady decision-making and deleted evidence.

What Happened?

SI reportedly used a third-party ad service, likely to help offset revenue challenges — a struggle understood by anyone in the journalism field. That third-party service, AdVon, used AI-generated content and fake writer profiles to publish product reviews under the SI name and brand. The AI-generated articles and writers were not used to produce front-page content about breaking sports news stories — and I think that’s a key differentiator.

Editor’s Note: Personally, I’ve always seen Sports Illustrated as the standard for high-quality sports journalism in an ever-changing landscape. This recent blunder, as ugly as it seems, appears to be a lack of oversight, maybe a “major” lack of oversight, by SI’s management, Arena Group.

Journalism’s Next Reckoning

Still, the use of computer-written content is slowly making its way into the mainstream media. Gannett, the publishers of USA Today, were slammed in October when writers accused the media org of using AI-generated content in a similar situation — third-party product reviews. Other sites, like Buzzfeed, openly use robot-written stories, but they’re honest and upfront about the source of the content. Transparency is key. So far, it appears that digital marketing companies are the ones hacking the journalism market with “content” they’re not actually producing by real humans. And media companies, desperate for the best monetization options, are either not paying attention, or not caring. That’s a lose-lose for journalistic integrity.

The Sportsletter Is Human

Here at The Sportsletter, we’re pretty rigid about our journalistic approach. We may make mistakes, and we may not be world-renowned journalists (yet), but we’re big on integrity. Our newsletter will always be written by real people. I’ve received many promotional emails over the past year from software companies offering an AI newsletter service that would auto-generate sports stories for us to use. Not interested.

The robot revolution is here, and it’s not all bad. We’ll make sure to maintain our storytelling integrity.

What do you think? Would you still read The Sportsletter if it was written by AI? (click to vote)

Yes

FOS Sports: Sports Illustrated’s AI Controversy: What We Know, What’s Next

Photo: Joe Raedle / Getty Images