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Sports Illustrated Published Articles by Fake, AI-Generated Writers

posted by janrinok on Thursday November 30 2023, @06:09AM   Printer-friendly
from the can-AI-be-used-to-create-a-fake-sport? dept.

fliptop writes:

They were asked about it, and they deleted everything:

There was nothing in Drew Ortiz's author biography at Sports Illustrated to suggest that he was anything other than human.

"Drew has spent much of his life outdoors, and is excited to guide you through his never-ending list of the best products to keep you from falling to the perils of nature," it read. "Nowadays, there is rarely a weekend that goes by where Drew isn't out camping, hiking, or just back on his parents' farm."

The only problem? Outside of Sports Illustrated, Drew Ortiz doesn't seem to exist. He has no social media presence and no publishing history. And even more strangely, his profile photo on Sports Illustrated is for sale on a website that sells AI-generated headshots, where he's described as "neutral white young-adult male with short brown hair and blue eyes."

Ortiz isn't the only AI-generated author published by Sports Illustrated, according to a person involved with the creation of the content who asked to be kept anonymous to protect them from professional repercussions.

"There's a lot," they told us of the fake authors. "I was like, what are they? This is ridiculous. This person does not exist."

[...] The AI content marks a staggering fall from grace for Sports Illustrated, which in past decades won numerous National Magazine Awards for its sports journalism and published work by literary giants ranging from William Faulkner to John Updike.

But now that it's under the management of The Arena Group, parts of the magazine seem to have devolved into a Potemkin Village in which phony writers are cooked up out of thin air, outfitted with equally bogus biographies and expertise to win readers' trust, and used to pump out AI-generated buying guides that are monetized by affiliate links to products that provide a financial kickback when readers click them.

What's next? Six-fingered AI-generated models for the swimsuit edition?

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  • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Saturday December 02 2023, @05:21PM

    by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Saturday December 02 2023, @05:21PM (#1334988) Homepage Journal

    I think it's inevitable.

    Bob was a celebrity throughout space, widely known as the best guitarist in the solar system. All of the recorded music came from Earth, and on Earth, music had lost all of its charm and magic. It had become just another money making commodity that had lost all of its artistry and heart when computers took over writing and performing art, music, and literature. There were few human artists left anywhere, and no professionals; musicians lived on their government check and seldom were ever paid for performing. What non-artistic people don’t understand is that writers must write, musicians must play, sculptors must sculpt, and there’s little if anything they can do about it, they’re as good as addicted.
            Bob’s fame had started to become annoying to him. That woman who had just come into the bar was one of the very few who didn’t fawn over him and ask for an autograph like the bartender had. At least he got a free beer out of it. He had become very tired of being famous, and the trip to Anglada seemed an escape from his fame. He wondered if they would want a musician? He would be fifty five right before the takeoff, barely old enough.

    --
    Impeach Donald Saruman and his sidekick Elon Sauron
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