Sports Illustrated

[Koz]

Did you see that Sports Illustrated was busted for using AI generated content under the guise of fake writers and AI generated headshots?

 

I remember decades ago when SI was a must have publication for any sports (or bathing suit) enthusiast. Its amazing how far they have fallen.

[12poundbass]

I’ll randomly google a sports team I follow to see if I can find any news on them and SI will almost always be one of the top articles. The few times I click on the headlines it’s always clickbait! Didn’t take me long to quit clicking on them.

[Tennessee Boy]

I like what Chaz Bergman said on this topic. 

 

Chaz Bergman

 

Using AI-written articles in a magazine can be a beneficial and forward-thinking strategy for several reasons. Firstly, AI can assist in managing large volumes of content efficiently, enabling magazines to cover a wider range of topics and offer more diverse perspectives than would be possible with human writers alone. This can lead to a richer and more varied reading experience for the audience. Secondly, AI can analyze vast amounts of data to identify emerging trends and topics, ensuring the magazine stays ahead of the curve and relevant to its readers. Moreover, AI-written content can be tailored to meet the specific interests and preferences of the readership, enhancing personalization and engagement. It's also important to note that AI does not replace human writers but augments their capabilities, allowing them to focus on creative and complex tasks that require emotional depth and cultural nuances. This symbiotic relationship between human and AI talents can elevate the quality of the content, blending the efficiency and analytical prowess of AI with the creativity and empathy of human writers. Lastly, using AI can significantly reduce the time and resources spent on routine writing tasks, enabling the magazine to allocate more resources to investigative journalism, in-depth research, and high-quality storytelling. In summary, incorporating AI-written articles is not just about embracing technology, but about enhancing the magazine's ability to deliver timely, diverse, and engaging content to its readers.

 

 

FULL DISCLOSURE:  The head shot and statement were created with AI.  

 

[BigAngus752]

1 hour ago, Koz said:

SI was a must have publication

Agreed.  I had a full subscription anytime I could afford it (and I usually gave away the swimsuit edition).  They really had the pulse of sports in their hands.  That is long, long gone now.  Just like MTV that became everything EXCEPT music. 

[DaubsNU1]

1 hour ago, BigAngus752 said:

Agreed.  I had a full subscription anytime I could afford it (and I usually gave away the swimsuit edition).  They really had the pulse of sports in their hands.  That is long, long gone now.  Just like MTV that became everything EXCEPT music. 

 

I could not agree more. Pretty sure I have this SI stashed somewhere in the house

 

 

I quit reading SI, and watching MTV many years ago.

 

And quit watching ESPN as well. There are so many other ways to get information on my favorite teams.

 

 

 

 

[TnRiver46]

2 hours ago, Tennessee Boy said:

.

 

 

FULL DISCLOSURE:  The head shot and statement were created with AI.  

 

We noticed…….. it’s like the internet version of coach speak 

[GReb]

Twitter is the best place for sports news. You get immediate information and direct access to local/team writers that have the most accurate information. The masses no longer want crazy in depth pieces on week old news. The Athletic tried to revamp what SI was and failed. Barstool is the new age variation that works. Content is king and they’ve done an exceptional job generating the content folks want by taking a “fan” approach. 

[flyfisher]

Barstool is an interesting company really. Literally started as a free handout where they hired homeless to hand the papers out.  I am pretty sure they were bought out for a couple 100M then he bought it back for next to nothing.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Wonder if AI can bring back the Swimsuit edition with healthy looking women again.

 

There is no such thing as true AI in 2023, predictive modeling, and learned language modeling (LLM) is what we're talking about.   Both of which were created by the same type of minds that thought it was a good idea to remove healthy looking women from the swimsuit edition.    

 

AI is purely a marketing term as it stands today.   I doubt SI will exist in another 5-10yrs, oh well.  

[MN Fisher]

32 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Wonder if AI can bring back the Swimsuit edition with healthy looking women again.

You mean like Ashley? (hubba-hubba)

 

[Tennessee Boy]

Here the article about what Sports Illustrated did. Making up sports writers with fake photos and fake biographies is not journalism,  it’s lying.  Buying the fake photos from a site so that others can see where they came from is just stupid.  AI can be a tool for journalists.  Someday it might write better articles than human.  Just be honest about it.
 

https://futurism.com/sports-illustrated-ai-generated-writers

[casts_by_fly]

to be slightly fair to SI, they had contracted out articles.  That's common for a lot of websites.  There are article writer/generator companies.  SI chose a bad one or didn't vet what they were doing.  That's one result of dismissing a large chunk of your staff when they revamped their business a few years ago.

[Choporoz]

52 minutes ago, casts_by_fly said:

 or didn't vet what they were doing.  

Likely this is the truth.  But, to me this is even worse than the initial headlines that SI was caught clumsily using AI.  

 

  Vetting was fundamentally at the core of journalism not all that long ago.  Now it is an afterthought much of the time.  Generally, clicks generated by unvetted information greatly outweigh any potential damage resulting later

[Skunkmaster-k]

AI creeps me out. I was talking to some gal on the phone for a good while before I figured out the voice wasn’t human. First thing I thought of after I hung up was the movie Terminator. 

[casts_by_fly]

1 hour ago, Choporoz said:

Likely this is the truth.  But, to me this is even worse than the initial headlines that SI was caught clumsily using AI.  

 

  Vetting was fundamentally at the core of journalism not all that long ago.  Now it is an afterthought much of the time.  Generally, clicks generated by unvetted information greatly outweigh any potential damage resulting later

 

fully agreed.  AI is good for click baity articles with no real substance in them that largely summarize the info you'd find if you just read actual articles by people.  I'm all for AI for some things, but this isn't one of them.

[Tennessee Boy]

The magazine industry is going away.   I read yesterday that Popular Science will stop publishing issues and has laid off most of its staff.  They’ve been around for 151 years.  They were purchased in 2021 and I’m sure the new owners will do something to capitalize on the well known and trusted brand they now own.  

[Koz]

7 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

There is no such thing as true AI in 2023, predictive modeling, and learned language modeling (LLM) is what we're talking about. 

While that may be true of ChatGTP and the other AI we see with MSN, Google, etc. there is a lot more going on that I know of at another company that is developing true neural networks. I have been told by someone who works at this company that what is developing there is downright scary.

[AlabamaSpothunter]

6 minutes ago, Koz said:

While that may be true of ChatGTP and the other AI we see with MSN, Google, etc. there is a lot more going on that I know of at another company that is developing true neural networks. I have been told by someone who works at this company that what is developing there is downright scary.

I have no doubt about that, but what society today is calling AI is a far cry from true AI.  

 

Nvidia is who I think has the best chance at unleashing the true genie.  

[Tennessee Boy]

How do you define "true AI"?

 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

The Turing Test would be a good place to start in the future, but because what is being marketed as "AI" today is so far away from being true AI.......companies and researchers are using it less and less as the ultimate benchmark for AI.  

[Tennessee Boy]

You don't think ChatGPT can pass the Turing Test?  Have you ever used it?

 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

ChatGPT is nothing more than a LLM that has implicit biased built into it.

 

Such a far cry from "true AI" imho.  

 

 

[flyfisher]

9 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Wonder if AI can bring back the Swimsuit edition with healthy looking women again.

  

Not sure what healthy means to you but the last 10 years or so of the swimsuit issue hasn't had those rail thin skinny women.  Now if you said realistic i could buy that but these aren't normal women at all...they are models who work pretty hard to look like they do.  

[Koz]

2 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Nvidia is who I think has the best chance at unleashing the true genie.  

Ding! Ding! Ding!

 

But you didn't hear that from me.

[detroit1]

Next year sometime Hot Rod magazine will be changing to quarterlies.