Sports Illustrated Fires CEO Amid AI-Generated Content Accusations

Sports Illustrated has fired its CEO, Ross Levinsohn, after being accused of producing AI-generated content. This firing came on the heels of Futurism reporting that the publication used the content as part of its website. Levinsohn has been CEO of The Arena Group since 2020. Before that, he was an executive at Yahoo, Fox Interactive, and Tribune Publishing.

Levinsohn’s ousting came after Futurism alleged that several Sports Illustrated bylines did not have humans attached to their writings. The site cited one instance of a writer named Drew Ortiz, who didn’t exist. The author reportedly had no social media presence and no publishing history. The story also noted that his profile photo for the publication was listed as for sale on a website that sells AI-generated headshots. It has yet to be clarified whether Levinsohn’s firing was related to the shakeup.

The Arena Group, which acquired Sports Illustrated in 2019, denied the allegations and said the articles were sourced commercial content from a third-party advertising company, AdVon Commerce. A spokesperson for The Arena Group wrote, “Today, an article was published alleging that Sports Illustrated published AI-generated articles. According to our initial investigation, this is not accurate.”

The statement claimed the articles in question were product reviews. Subsequently, The Arena Group claimed they were licensed content from an external, third-party company, AdVon Commerce.

The Guardian reported that Levinsohn once indicated Sports Illustrated would incorporate AI into its journalism. However, he also explained it would never replace journalists. “While AI will never replace journalism, reporting, or crafting and editing a story, rapidly improving AI technologies can create enterprise value for our brands and partners,” Levinsohn said in February.

His firing came after the company terminated operations president, COO Andrew Kraft, media president Rob Barrett, and corporate counsel Julie Fenster. Effective this week, Manoj Bhargava will serve as Sports Illustrated’s interim chief executive officer. The 5-Hour Energy founder owns a majority stake in The Arena Group.