--- title: "The Company That Published Fake AI Authors at Sports Illustrated Just Lost the Whole Magazine" description: "The Arena Group, which allowed for the publishing of AI content to legacy title Sports Illustrated, has lost the venerable magazine entirely." date: "2024-03-18" modified: "2024-03-18" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/company-published-ai-sports-illustrated-magazine" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" tags: - "ai" - "Media" - "sports illustrated" - "the digest" --- # The Company That Published Fake AI Authors at Sports Illustrated Just Lost the Whole Magazine ![The Arena Group, which allowed for the publishing of AI content to legacy title Sports Illustrated, has lost the venerable magazine entirely.]() *\Image: Lexie Moreland / WWD via Getty / Futurism\* ## See Ya The Arena Group, which allowed for the [publishing of fake authors with AI-generated headshots and allegedly AI-generated content]() to *Sports Illustrated* and its sister site *TheStreet*, has now lost *Sports Illustrated* entirely, [*The New York Times* reports](). *Sports Illustrated's* magazine publishing deal is — or was — widely regarded as one of the stranger deals in media. Though *Sports Illustrated* is undeniably the Arena Group's most recognizable brand, the publisher didn't actually own the title; it licensed the *Sports Illustrated* name from a company called Authentic Brands Group, which owns the rights to the *Sports Illustrated* name. But according to the *NYT*, the embattled Arena Group and *Sports Illustrated* are officially parting ways. In the wake of the *Sports Illustrated* AI scandal, [subsequent]() [executive firings]() and a [missed licensing payment]() that led to [massive *Sports Illustrated* job cuts](), Authentic Brands Group has finally found a new publisher for the legacy brand: Minute Media, a digital media company that publishes sites including *The Players' Tribune* and *Mental Floss*. When "you get the opportunity to work with and grow an iconic brand like *Sports Illustrated*," Minute Media CEO Asaf Peled told the *NYT* of the deal, "you take it." ## Onward and Upward Per the *NYT*, Minute Media plans to continue *Sports Illustrated's* print magazine, which the Arena Group had been planning to terminate. The deal is long-term, and the company also says it's planning to rehire some of the dozens of *Sports Illustrated* staffers that Arena abruptly laid off in January. The Arena Group hasn't been in a healthy place for some time now. But its downward and SEO-hungry spiral was magnified by the media company's disastrous foray into deceptive AI content, which brought it new levels of public scrutiny. And [as *Business Insider* reported yesterday](), the bizarre tenure of billionaire majority owner and 5-hour Energy magnate Manoj Bhargava has brought new levels of disarray to the Arena Group and the publications in its stewardship, *Sports Illustrated* included. "No one really knows what Manoj's angle is," a source familiar with Bhargava's leadership told *BI*. "He benefits from this perception that he's crazy like a fox." In short, things have been incredibly chaotic for the Arena Group, its publications, and their staffers. And over the past year, the Arena Group has taught an unfortunate masterclass in the reality that AI content won't plug larger holes in a media company's hull — and in fact, might make them worse. Here's hoping that Minute Media can right the ship. **More on *Sports Illustrated* and AI:** [*80 Percent of Americans Think Presenting AI Content as Human-Made Should Be Illegal*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()