The owners of Sports Illustrated have fired CEO Ross Levinsohn after the outlet was accused of publishing AI-generated copy, using portraits of fake authors and creating fake profiles.
Arena Group Holdings, which owns the 79-year-old magazine, made the announcement after a meeting of its board of directors “to improve the company's operational efficiency and revenue.”
Levinsohn, 59, has served as CEO and publisher of SI since 2019 and has led The Arena Group since 2020.
He will be replaced in the interim by Manoj Bhargava, the founder and CEO of Innovations Ventures LLC, best known for 5-Hour Energy Drink.
Bhargava, who bought a majority stake in the company in August, also owns a group of television stations.
The owners of Sports Illustrated have fired CEO Ross Levinsohn after the company was accused of publishing AI-generated copy while using portraits of fake authors and creating fake profiles.
An investigation conducted by Futurism found that several “authors” with biography pages on the Sports Illustrated website were fake – including made-up interests, hobbies and even an AI-generated headshot
One of the alleged writers' headshots can be seen on a website that sells AI-generated photos
In addition to Levinsohn, COO Andrew Kraft, media president Rob Barrett and in-house counsel Julie Fenster have also been fired.
However, a spokesperson for Bhargava claims that the house cleaning was all in the planning before the scandal broke.
“That included significant changes within the leadership team,” Vince Bodiford told the newspaper New York Postchanges that they hope will “improve the company's operational efficiency and revenue.”
Levinsohn called the company “well positioned for the future” in a LinkedIn post announcing his departure.
'It was an incredible ride. We were able to grow the company substantially from tens of millions of users to over 100 million and from tens of millions in revenue to hundreds of millions. We have grown in every major category, adding brands like SI, The Street, Parade, Men's Journal, Powder and Surfer to our platform to help create a major digital player.”
He made no mention of the controversy and said he is “most proud” of the team he built.
The old magazine was recalled for its content, which was allegedly written by non-existent authors. Sports Illustrated said the work came from a “third party” who assured their articles were written by humans.
A survey conducted by news company Futurism discovered that several “authors” with biography pages on the Sports Illustrated website were fake – including made-up interests, hobbies and even an AI-generated headshot.
Levinsohn will be replaced in the interim by Manoj Bhargava, the founder and CEO of Innovations Ventures LLC, best known for 5-Hour Energy Drink
Levinsohn, 59, has served as CEO and publisher of SI since 2019 and has led The Arena Group since 2020
Like the authors, some of the text on the website's reviews page was accused of sounding like it was written by an 'alien' – with bizarre descriptions and formatting discrepancies.
After the magazine's publisher, The Arena Group, was first contacted about the allegations, all bizarre content disappeared, the report said.
Drew Ortiz, a purported writer, had a profile highlighting how he's “spent much of his life outdoors, and he's excited to walk you through his endless list of the best products to keep you out of harm's way” falls from nature.
“These days, rarely a weekend goes by when Drew isn't camping, hiking or just back on his parents' farm.”
The report claims Ortiz does not exist – with no social media presence or publishing history.
His profile photo was found on a website that sells AI-generated portraits. The fake image of Ortiz is described as “neutral white young adult male with short brown hair and blue eyes.”
Months ago, Ortiz's page disappeared completely – and started redirecting to a page owned by someone named Sora Tanaka. Her image was also for sale on an AI website, listed as “cheerful Asian young adult woman with long brown hair and brown eyes.”
The old magazine was recalled for its content, which was allegedly written by non-existent authors. Sports Illustrated said the work came from a “third party,” which assured their articles were written by humans
Her allegedly false description on the Sports Illustrated website read: “Sora has always been a fitness guru and loves trying different foods and drinks. Ms. Tanaka is excited to bring her fitness and nutrition expertise to the Product Reviews Team, and promises to bring you only the best of the best.”
A third, allegedly fake writer for Sports Illustrated is Domino Abrams – whose biography says he was a stay-at-home dad. His headshot also turned out to be AI-generated.
The report also claimed that their bylines would also change – without an editor's note explaining why someone's story was suddenly attributed to someone else.
At the end of the stories, it was stated that the work was “created by a third party” and that Sports Illustrated's “editorial staff was not involved in the creation of this content.”
An insider told Futurism: 'There's a lot. I thought: what are they? This is ridiculous. This person does not exist.
“At the bottom of the page would be a photo of a person and a false description of that person, such as, 'Oh, John lives in Houston, Texas.' He enjoys playing games in the garden and hanging out with his dog Sam.' Those kind of things. It's just crazy.'
Another source told the outlet, “The content is definitely AI-generated, no matter how many times they say it isn't.”
The Arena Group had a partnership with AdVon Commerce, the company that supplied the posts. But the publisher said it has since severed ties with the company.
Months ago, Ortiz's page disappeared completely – and started redirecting to the page related to someone named Sora Tanaka. Her image was also for sale, listed as 'cheerful Asian young adult woman with long brown hair and brown eyes'
Sora Tanaka's portrait photo can be seen on an AI website
In a statement to Variety, an Arena Group spokesperson said: “The articles in question were product reviews and licensed content from a third-party, third-party company, AdVon Commerce.
“A number of AdVon e-commerce items appeared on select Arena websites. We continuously monitor our partners and were in the middle of a review when these allegations emerged.
“AdVon has assured us that all articles in question were written and edited by humans.
“According to AdVon, their writers, editors and researchers create and manage content and follow a policy that uses both anti-plagiarism and counter-AI software on all content.
“However, we learned that AdVon allowed writers to use a pen name or pseudonym in certain articles to protect the author's privacy – actions we do not condone – and we are removing the content while our internal investigation continues and have since ended the partnership. '