Sports Illustrated Scrubs Writer's Archive After Plagiarism and AI Use Allegations
Sports Illustrated deleted an author and his entire article archive from its website after being accused of publishing plagiarized content generated with AI.
On May 15, Sports Illustrated published an article titled "Who is really winning on Kalshi parlays according to the data" that reproduced analysis and figures from a Sportico article published two days earlier. The Sports Illustrated piece did not credit Sportico's original reporting.
The article was attributed to Parker Loverich. Sportico editor Dan Bernstein flagged the plagiarism on social media, suggesting AI had been used to generate the Sports Illustrated piece. "The husk of the Sports Illustrated brand is stealing entire stories from people without credit, seemingly using AI," Bernstein wrote on X.
Sports Illustrated removed the article within days. Loverich's profile and all associated articles were deleted from the site. The author did not respond to requests for comment.
Sports Illustrated later said the content had been produced by an "independent publisher" managing a predictions market section on the site. "Sports Illustrated became aware of a violation of those guidelines in regards to the use of AI and immediately took steps internally to address this violation, including cutting ties with the publisher," the company said in a statement.
Pattern of AI Misuse
The deletion marks the second major AI scandal for Sports Illustrated in two years. In 2023, an investigation revealed the brand had published hundreds of product review articles bylined by fabricated writers with AI-generated profile pictures. The content came from a third-party provider called AdVon Commerce, which was secretly using AI to generate material.
Sports Illustrated was owned by The Arena Group at the time. Following the investigation, several executives were fired, including the company's CEO. The Arena Group lost control of the brand, which is now owned by Minute Media.
Writers Face Real Consequences
Bernstein said the plagiarism frustrates him because Sports Illustrated's larger audience could see the stolen version before his original reporting. "If someone was plagiarizing my work and no one was actually seeing it, then it would be semi-annoying," he said. "But the idea of a plagiarized version showing up in Google over my own version, or someone seeing the plagiarized version and then citing the plagiarized version instead of my own, that's kind of frustrating."
He added that Minute Media's swift deletion without addressing the plagiarism allegation was concerning. "Just because this account was deleted, I would not be surprised if this is happening elsewhere, or if this is going to happen again," Bernstein said. "It feels like it's more of a systemic problem than this one incident."
For writers, this incident underscores the need to understand how generative AI and LLMs operate and the risks they pose to original work. Learning about AI for writers includes understanding plagiarism detection, proper attribution, and how to protect your byline in an era when AI-generated content can be published at scale.
Your membership also unlocks:
