Sports Illustrated writer Drew Ortiz seems like a nice enough chap. "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," reads his bio (since deleted by SI but seen there in archived form.) The problem, reports Futurism in an investigation, is that Ortiz doesn't seem to exist in the real world. In fact, you can buy a photo of his face here, a website that sells AI-generated head shots and describes this one as a "neutral white young-adult male." And "Ortiz" is not the only seemingly bogus writer showing up in SI content, according to the investigation. "There's a lot," one source tells Futurism of the not-so-human authors. "I was like, what are they? This is ridiculous. This person does not exist."
The investigation asserts that SI owner Arena Group is routinely presenting fake authors above content (think buying guides) for which the company receives a "financial kickback" if people click. (One Ortiz article was a guide to buying volleyballs, and the content itself reads suspiciously like a bot wrote it.) First Arena, which Futurism says has similarly published AI content at other sites it owns, such as the financial outlet TheStreet, did not respond to the outlet's requests for comment. In fact, it deleted all the SI authors it was asked about, though it has previously been unapologetic about its experiments with artificial intelligence. Futurism, however, sees this as a "staggering fall from grace" for the storied sports publication. Read the full investigation, which includes examples of other seemingly bogus authors. (More Sports Illustrated stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
