Sports Illustrated's publisher, Arena Group axes CEO Ross Levinsohn in wake of AI controversy

Sports Illustrated's parent company, The Arena Group, dismisses CEO Ross Levinsohn amidst controversy over alleged AI-generated content.

The publisher of the renowned sports magazine Sports Illustrated, The Arena Group, has dismissed its Chief Executive Officer, Ross Levinsohn.

FILE PHOTO: Gambling dice and chips are seen in front of Sports Illustrated and 888 Holdings logos in illustration taken. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo (REUTERS)

The board of the media conglomerate convened on Monday to deliberate on strategies to enhance the company’s operational efficiency and revenue generation. This move was announced in a statement on the company’s website on the same day.

The ousting of Levinsohn is a direct consequence of the intense public outcry that ensued following allegations that Sports Illustrated resorted to using artificial intelligence to produce stories and fabricate author biographies on its website.

The controversy first came to light through a report by Futurism, a publication with a technological focus. A spokesperson for Arena Group addressed these allegations in a November post on SI’s X account, stating that the contentious content, which included articles and product reviews from AdVon Commerce—a third-party content provider—was indeed authored and edited by human writers.

“AdVon has assured us that all of the articles in question were written and edited by humans,” affirmed the post on X.

Despite denying the accusations of utilizing AI for article creation, Arena Group made the decision to retract the purported AI-generated stories from SI.com while an internal investigation is underway.

The interim CEO position has been filled by Manoj Bhargava, the entrepreneur behind 5-Hour Energy, who also holds a controlling interest in Arena Group. Bhargava’s appointment as the temporary chief executive was confirmed in the company’s statement on Monday.

Levinsohn’s tenure as CEO of Arena Group began in 2020, as indicated by his LinkedIn profile. His career, spanning over three decades, includes prominent leadership roles at HBO, CBS Sportsline, and a stint as the interim CEO of Yahoo.

This latest dismissal follows a series of terminations at Arena Group last week, which saw the departure of COO Andrew Kraft, media president Rob Barrett, and corporate counsel Julie Fenster.

Amidst these corporate upheavals, the company’s stock experienced a downturn, trading over 5% lower on Tuesday around 2 p.m. EST