Sports Illustrated Publisher Fires CEO After AI Scandal

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Facts

• The Arena Group, publisher of Sports Illustrated, ousted CEO Ross Levinsohn on Monday, weeks after a report exposed the company for publishing articles written by fake authors with AI-generated headshots and biographies.¹
• The Arena Group did not provide details as to why Levinsohn was terminated but said in a statement that its board 'took actions to improve the operational efficiency and revenue of the company.' Manoj Bhargava, the founder and CEO of Innovations Ventures which makes the five-hour energy drink, was named as the company’s interim CEO.²
• Sports Illustrated came under fire after science and technology news outlet Futurism released an investigative report last month that uncovered the publication creating fake profiles of AI-generated editors and authors. The Arena Group denies the allegations and says the articles in question were sourced from a third-party advertising firm called AdVon Commerce.³
• All alleged AI-generated stories have been removed from SI.com, and the Arena Group is conducting an internal investigation of the situation. In an X (formerly Twitter) post, an Arena Group spokesperson said 'AdVon has assured us that all of the articles in question were written and edited by humans.'⁴
• A spokesperson for interim CEO Bhargava said that Levinsohn’s removal “had absolutely nothing to do with the AI issue at all,” and the company’s statement did not mention the scandal. However, the issue brought attention to an emerging issue of news outlets cutting human staff and relying on artificial intelligence to cut costs.⁵
• Last week the Arena Group fired three high-profile executives — operations president and COO Andrew Kraft, media president Rob Barrett, and corporate counsel Julie Fenster. Levinsohn joined the company in 2020 after serving as a top executive at Yahoo, Tribune Publishing, and Fox Interactive; he announced his removal in a LinkedIn post.⁶

Sources: ¹CNN, ²NBC, ³Guardian, ⁴CBS, ⁵BBC News and ⁶Yahoo finance.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Boston.com. Sports Illustrated was once the gold standard for sports journalism, and it still employs some of the world's best writers — of the actual human variety. However, this scandal of using artificial intelligence to create stories written by fake people is an utter disgrace to journalism and a slap in the face to illustrious and seasoned writers. Not only does AI produce inferior work, but it also casts a division between an outlet and its readers. Consumers are skeptical of AI for a reason, and the journalism industry should not replace talented writers with AI-generated avatars.
• Narrative B, as provided by Wyoming tribune eagle. While public backlash is focused on Sports Illustrated for using AI-generated authors to write stories, the larger focus should be on the entire industry of journalism. The fact is that journalism has undergone serious transformations throughout history, especially since the digital age. Change comes rapidly, and we are now in the age of artificial intelligence. While it may be a sad development for some, the use of AI authors is a natural progression as technology advances, and Sports Illustrated shouldn’t be singled out for this broad trend of changing times.

Predictions