Futurism revealed that Sports Illustrated had been publishing articles generated by AI and attributing them to authors who did not exist. The fake author bios included professional-sounding descriptions and AI-generated headshots. When confronted, the company behind SI's digital operations initially claimed the content came from a 'content licensing company' and denied AI involvement — before the vendor's website was quietly scrubbed of all reference to AI-generated content. The scandal accelerated layoffs and leadership changes at one of America's most iconic sports magazines.