Posted on 11/28/2023 9:26:17 AM PST by SeekAndFind
I haven't subscribed to Sports Illustrated since the 1990s. By then, the poetry had gone out of the games, and writers who could tell stories were left talking about contracts, scandals, and the corporatism that dominated the games. The ravenous maw of sports media chewed up interesting personalities and spit them out, leaving a soulless shadow behind.
But in its heyday, SI was home to some of the best English language writers who used the short form of magazine writing to create achingly beautiful masterpieces.
There were Frank Deford, Rick Telander, Jim Murray, and Rick Reilly's "Backpage" column that I always read first, as well as a host of others who made sports into literature — great epic poems that moved the reader to tears, to anger, to laughter.
So it was with a mixture of sadness and anger that I read about SI's betrayal of those writers. According to the site Futurism, SI used artificial intelligence-generated copy and AI-generated writer profiles and passed them off as real people.
One such fabricated author, Drew Ortiz, had a biography that didn't suggest he was anything but a normal human. "Product reviewer for all things Outdoors, Camping, Backyard Games, Hunting, and Fishing," his bio said.
"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. "Nowadays, there is rarely a weekend that goes by where Drew isn't out camping, hiking, or just back on his parents' farm."
There was only one problem: no trace of Drew could be found in the real world.
Outside of Sports Illustrated, Drew Ortiz doesn't seem to exist. He has no social media presence and no publishing history.
(Excerpt) Read more at pjmedia.com ...
Who reads SI?
I last saw one on a table in the waiting area at a tire center. It was the thinnest, emptiest, rag I had ever seen for a published magazine. It was pages of nothing and the advertisements were inconsequential.
It's no surprise they put transvestites and Martha Stewart on their covers.
He probably is.
AI writers? They probably need AI subscribers even more.
Uhh, who cares? They now celebrate fatties as models for the swimsuit edition. SI gave up on reality years ago.
Just another rag now.
AI is likely writing the majority of the high school football game reviews in the local papers. It reads like a pretty awesome sports writer, then you kind of wonder . . .
Except that he doesn’t exist.
You know he was fake when he liked women’s soccer.
FWIW update....
Front Office Sports
@FOS
BREAKING: The Arena Group has given notice that it intends to lay off Sports Illustrated’s entire staff, according to an email obtained by FOS.
12:09 PM · Jan 19, 2024
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