There was nothing in Drew Ortiz's author biography at Sports Illustrated to suggest that he was anything other than human. "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," it read.
Curated from futurism.com · 27 November 2023 →
Futurism found product reviews on Sports Illustrated's site published under bylines including Drew Ortiz and Sora Tanaka, with biographies, and with headshots that were for sale on a marketplace for AI-generated portraits. The authors do not exist. When Futurism asked, the bylines came off the site. The publisher, Arena Group, said the material came from a third-party content partner, AdVon Commerce, which had used pen names without authorisation, and ended the partnership. It belongs on this page rather than in a media column because of what the invented byline was doing: the words might have been defensible, and the face and the biography were there to tell a reader a person stood behind them.
