Facepalm: Beware of making an attempt to go off AI-generated articles as being from actual writers. Weeks after Sports Illustrated was found to comprise articles reportedly written by synthetic intelligence, which included faux writer names and AI-created photographs, writer The Arena Group has fired its CEO.
The Arena Group, whose manufacturers embrace TheAvenue, Parade, and Men’s Journal, introduced that the board of administrators terminated the employment of CEO Ross Levinsohn, and named Manoj Bhargava as interim Chief Executive Officer.
Levinsohn is the newest Arena Group casualty. The firm fired operations president and COO Andrew Kraft, media president Rob Barrett, and company counsel Julie Fenster final week.
The Arena Group stated the layoffs have been made to enhance the operational effectivity and income of the corporate. There’s no point out of the AI scandal, nevertheless it nearly actually performed an element.
In November, Futurism uncovered a collection of pretend profiles from ‘writers’ whose articles appeared in Sports Illustrated and elsewhere. These included Drew Ortiz, whose biography claimed he cherished the outside and being at his dad and mom’ farm. He sounds very lively for somebody whose photograph seems on an AI-generated headshot web site: Drew appeared to solely exist inside Sports Illustrated.
There was additionally product reviewer and health guru Sora Tanaka, one other author with a headshot from the identical AI web site and with no work or social media presence outdoors of Sports Illustrated. Futurism discovered related circumstances of pretend writers at TheAvenue.
The Arena Group denied the accusation that the articles have been AI-generated. It stated the gadgets have been sourced from third-party promoting firm AdVon Commerce.
“Today, an article was revealed alleging that Sports Illustrated revealed AI-generated articles. According to our preliminary investigation, this isn’t correct,” Arena Group stated on the time. “AdVon has assured us that all the articles in query have been written and edited by people.”
Arena Group added that AdVon had admitted to some writers utilizing a pen identify or pseudonym in sure articles to guard writer privateness. The firm stated it was chopping ties with AdVon and that it was eradicating its content material from Arena Group web sites whereas it investigated.
Whether the articles actually have been written by a human is debatable. Here is an extract from the Ortiz piece: “Volleyball is likely one of the hottest sports activities on this planet, and for good purpose. It’s fast-paced, has a excessive ability ceiling, and is usually an thrilling sport to each play and watch. Even individuals who do not watch sports activities can simply perceive the depth and ability required to play volleyball at any time when they watch clips. There’s a purpose why it has been such a mainstay in trendy sports activities to at the present time.” Hmm…
