CEO fired in Sports Illustrated AI scandal’s aftermath

Arena Group, owner of Sports Illustrated, has made a radical change in the world of media and publishing, sacking CEO Ross Levinsohn as part of a wide-ranging reshuffle of its management team after a scandal linked to the use of artificial intelligence in the creation of content for Sports Illustrated.

Sports Illustrated boss Ross Levinsohn fired weeks after AI scandal https://t.co/9zSlYN4skZ

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) December 12, 2023

This announcement comes on the back of several high-profile redundancies in the company’s executive ranks, and while Arena Group has issued a statement highlighting the board’s decision to let Levinsohn go as part of an overall strategy to boost operational efficiency and increase revenues, it’s hard to ignore the scandal the company has been embroiled in over the past few weeks.

Indeed, it was revealed that the company had published articles whose content was generated by artificial intelligence, even though it claimed that this content was published by a real author. What’s more, the bios, photos and names of the alleged authors were all made up.

Controversy erupted when Futurism contacted Sports Illustrated with questions about the AI-generated author profiles, which were quickly deleted.

Arena Group defended itself, claiming that the articles in question were licensed content obtained from AdVon Commerce, which guaranteed that all content had been written and edited by using authors whose pen names were legitimate.

Sports Illustrated Published Articles by Fake, AI-Generated Writers https://t.co/zkM7lWZmL3

— Futurism (@futurism) December 9, 2023

Several company executives have since been dismissed, including Rob Barrett, president of media and Julie Fenster, the company’s general counsel, and ultimately CEO Ross Levinsohn, although the company has yet to officially establish a direct link between these dismissals and the fake author scandal.