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Arena Group fires CEO in wake of Sports Illustrated AI articles scandal
- dpflan 3y agoHN Post about the spotted article(s) 2 weeks ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38436516 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38436516 And wow, the new interim CEO: """ Bhargava is the founder of the company behind the 5-Hour Energy Drink product. """
- mistrial9 3y agoI have heard that guy speak - he does seem to show some leadership quality and also business integrity to some extent. give him a chance :-)
- dpflan 3y agoAt least 5-hours tenure or units of 5-hours? ;)
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- 1123581321 3y agoI also have a positive impression of him, from past interviews. Seems relatively humble. I’ve never tried the product.
- phatskat 3y agoIt’s honestly not bad for what it is - the aftertaste is a little chalky but they’re relatively small (about the size of a shot). As for effects, it’s maybe “cleaner” than the jittery that comes with large amounts of caffeine, and certainly easier on the body than kratom if you’re not adjusted to it. For a gas station stimulant it’s pretty decent imo.
- saghm 3y agoMy dad started using it occasionally years ago when we drove on long car trips. He's never liked coffee, so I think something quick and easy to get a similar type of boost is probably a pretty reasonable offering for a lot of people. (I also don't like coffee, but I also haven't driven since high school and like likely never will again. It does sometimes feel like a lot of "infrastructure" is set up for the majority of people who do like coffee, though; just the other day, I visited someone in a co-working space that had complementary drinks, but only coffee-related things like lattes and cappuccinos and such that I've never learned the difference between because I don't like any of them. I ended up buying a drink from a nearby vending machine instead)
- rchaud 3y agoHe's the majority shareholder of Arena Group, SI's parent company. Makes sense to have him as interim. Not sure why they left that out.
- hyggetrold 3y ago> Bhargava is the founder of the company behind the 5-Hour Energy Drink product. I'm not a fan of 5-hour energy but I heard Bhargava interviewed on a podcast and he seems like an interesting and unusual person. He spent 5-7 years in a Buddhist monastery I think? In any case, got a good impression of him.
- saintkaye 3y agoThe pub was failing and the CEO took an innovation risk that in its near outcome changes the economics of a dying business. He should be admired not fired.
- mvdtnz 3y agoHe broke the trust of his readers and his board.
- jjulius 3y ago>He should be admired not fired. That depends entirely upon one's definition of "admirable". Personally, if the act requires one to be deceitful (eg, lying about the fact that your writers aren't writers), then that's not very admirable at all to me. If that's what you find admirable, well... alrighty then.
- test098 3y agonobody wants "innovation risks" when it comes to truth and ethics in journalism.
- fullshark 3y agoI'd agree IF he didn't pretend the AI written articles were actually written by humans with fabricated biographies.
- PhasmaFelis 3y agoIf you think making a profit is the one and only thing that deserves admiration, sure. I'm certain you're smart enough to see the flaws in that viewpoint.
- spaceman_2020 3y agoWho ratted him out? Or could the readers tell?
- CharlesW 3y agoTFA answers this in paragraphs 3-4.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- akprasad 3y agoQuoted: > The release did not mention the AI scandal from November, which was spurred by an investigative report published by the science and technology news publication Futurism. Earlier this year, a round of layoffs hit the magazine shortly after the Arena Group’s CEO and chairman, Ross Levinsohn, announced the company’s incorporation of AI. Sports Illustrated accused of publishing articles written by AI Read more > Among fake profiles uncovered by Futurism was that of purported author “Sora Tanaka” which claims she is a product reviewer. The page said: “Sora has always been a fitness guru, and loves to try different foods and drinks. Ms Tanaka is thrilled to bring her fitness and nutritional expertise to the Product Reviews Team, and promises to bring you nothing but the best of the best.” > Tanaka is not a real person.
- DonHopkins 3y agoTanaka is saving her money for finger reduction and ear balancing surgery.
- whaleofatw2022 3y agoAmusingly, GamePRO did this way back when, but differently. Essentially, the 'Reviewer' was a caricature for the genre (e.x. the fighting game Reviewer was 'slasher quan' or somesuch) however one could tell from the writing style it was not just one person doing the writing. Otoh at least they tried to play it straight?
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- bko 3y ago70 years ago there was a job for someone to stand in an elevator and press a button for the rider. Today we have jobs for people to rearticulate box scores. If a computer can do it adequately it should be done by a computer. I don't want to bring back the button pusher and I'm okay with ai authors. But they really shouldn't lie about it
- genedan 3y agoThere are still elevators like that in the Fine Arts Building in Chicago. In addition to the elevators, it's a great place to be if you're a musician. There are studios, practice rooms, and musical instrument shops too.
- bobthecowboy 3y ago> If a computer can do it adequately it should be done by a computer Wasn't there recently some entirely AI "musician"? I'm guessing the person you're replying to doesn't see an ongoing need for musicians either.
- filoleg 3y agoThe office building in Manhattan that I work at, the elevator is like that as well. I am fairly certain there are plenty of people on HN working in that same building who could corroborate this
- vlovich123 3y ago> But they really shouldn’t lie about it If you can’t tell then what’s the problem? If you can what’s the problem? I have bigger problems with everyday lies that already happen that are treated as “normal”. For example, advertising a price cut as if there’s a discount by raising the everyday price and discounting to the previous everyday price, using celebrities/influencers to promote products, paying for product reviews in some way, etc etc.
- longbrass 3y agoAnd these lies are not something that AI can be trusted to reveal, but a journalist can.
- dougb5 3y agoThe article goes on to contradict itself, saying that Arena cites different reasons for the firing, and also that it denies the articles were "AI-generated" in the first place (the explanation they give is pseudonymous contractors). The headline would seem to be technically accurate but wildly misleading.
- DonHopkins 3y agoNot their fault! The reasons for the firing and the denial were AI-generated.
- Doctor_Fegg 3y agoLevinsohn has a colourful history. Per Wikipedia: > From 2001 to 2005, Levinsohn was senior vice president and general manager at Fox Sports Interactive Media, a division of News Corporation.[9] In late 2004, he was named president of Fox Interactive Media and oversaw a controversial, and arguably fraudulent, acquisition of MySpace for $580 million.[10] Levinsohn resigned from News Corp. in November 2006 and was replaced by his cousin.[11] > Levinsohn led Yahoo for two months as interim CEO in 2012. After the board of directors passed him over for the permanent CEO position, hiring Google executive Marissa Mayer, Levinsohn left the company.[18] > In 2014, Levinsohn became executive chairman of Scout Media, a sports digital media network.[20] The firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2016, seeking approval to sell what remained of the business at auction.[21][22] Levinsohn and Heckman were named as defendants in a shareholder lawsuit filed in 2017, in federal court.[23] > On 21 August 2017, Levinsohn was named the publisher and CEO of the Los Angeles Times by tronc, replacing Davan Maharaj.[24] Levinsohn was placed on unpaid leave in January 2018, after reports of two sexual harassment lawsuits, 'frat house' behavior and questionable decisions on the job from interviews with 26 former colleagues and associates.[27][28] A law firm hired by Tronc to investigate the sexual harassment claims found no wrongdoing after a three-week investigation.[26][29] The Guardian article is a bit handwavy about the AI connection but I don't think there's any evidence that this led to Levinsohn's undoing. Maven/Arena has been a... challenging company for some time.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- dpflan 3y agoThanks for perspective, what do you make of the other noted departures? """ Last week Arena terminated the employment of operations president and COO Andrew Kraft, media president Rob Barrett, and corporate counsel Julie Fenster. """
- floren 3y agoI assume leadership at other publications will learn from this -- learn that you should take greater care not to get caught publishing AI articles.
- khazhoux 3y agoThe number of execs that got canned suggests this was not about AI articles.
- madamelic 3y agoIt does strike me as ironic that they fired him after a meeting about cutting costs and increasing operating efficiencies. I would guess AI authors would do both. There has to be more to the story for sure.
- DonsDiscountGas 3y agoGetting caught means it's not worth it for sure. I'm also a little skeptical that writer-pay is a big cost-center; actually hiring unknown writers (as opposed to pretending to) wouldn't cost that much.
- ProllyInfamous 3y agoWas it, rather, about AI Executives? Cause I BELIEVE in the future. –Common B. Citizen
- ycombinatrix 3y agoimo, portraying advertisements as articles is worse than AI generated content