Here’s a quote from Sports Illustrated in Maggie Harrison’s Sports Illustrated Published Articles by Fake, AI-Generated Writers:

Today, an article was published alleging that Sports Illustrated published AI-generated articles. According to our initial investigation, this is not accurate. The articles in question were product reviews and were licensed content from an external, third-party company, AdVon Commerce.

It wouldn’t be fair to say they “published” AI generated articles from AI generated “writers” who don’t exist, it would be more fair to say they licensed AI generated articles from AI generated “writers”…and then published those to their site?

It’s a terrible look for SI, and a prime example of how not to use LLM tools. It’s also a prime example of the course-correcting backlash that comes from using the tools like this. I’m a proponent of LLMs, but I’m staunchly against using them like this. Nobody likes it and you’re gonna drown in bad PR if you get caught.