In late October, ESPN sent out a tweet from their SportsCenter account of Milwaukee Bucks star Damian Lillard doing a post-game interview into an ESPN microphone where he said he “did not come here [to Milwaukee] to waste [his] time.” Lillard was wearing his Bucks jersey and standing on the Bucks’ court.
That never happened.
The clip of Lillard speaking was from his time as a Portland Trailblazer. The “here” he spoke of was to the NBA’s Orlando bubble in 2020 after the COVID-19 lockdown. The Bucks jersey was photoshopped. The microphone, which was originally from TNT, was digitally altered. The court was changed to show the Bucks’ logo. ESPN did all of this without explanation, expecting their audience to either believe this happened or to take it as a joke in some way — although there is nothing in the tweet to lead one to believe it’s a joke.
The Sports Illustrated Union sent out a statement shortly after the report came out, saying they were “horrified” by what was said, and that they “deplore being associated with something so disrespectful.”
This example is just one of many instances of artificial intelligence (AI) infiltrating sports media in the past year. Another example, and the one that led to this article, was a report published last week that alleged that Sports Illustrated had been using AI to both write articles and increase the diversity numbers on their staff.
The report, which was published by Futurism, alleged that staff writers Drew Ortiz and Sora Tanaka are not real people, but just AI generated staff profiles and articles. In fact, both Ortiz and Tanaka’s profile faces are for sale on an AI-generated headshot website. Despite this, Sports Illustrated and their publisher, The Arena Group, deny ever using AI in any capacity, saying according to their investigation, Futurism’s report is inaccurate.
However, the company also acknowledges that some writers “use a pen or pseudo name in certain articles to protect author privacy,” something the company does not condone. The Sports Illustrated Union sent out a statement shortly after the report came out, saying they were “horrified” by what was said, and that they “deplore being associated with something so disrespectful.” The union signed the statement as “The humans of the SI Union.”
It goes without saying that if this report is true, there is no excuse for what Sports Illustrated, one of the industry giants, did. However, the allegations are enough to raise questions about the future and the current state of sports media. Last year, we published an article highlighting the lack of diversity in sports media, specifically focusing on the lack of women and people of color in the industry. If Sports Illustrated was using Tanaka and Ortiz to increase the diversity on their “staff,” there need to be major consequences for the people who let that happen.
It’s also not out of the question that any article we read today was generated by AI without our knowledge. With the increased use of AI across all industries, it’s important for journalists to keep the ethical standard at the highest possible level. Otherwise, the risks of misinformation will continue to grow.
wjackso2@ramapo.edu
Featured photo courtesy of DeepMind, Pexels
