By Angelica Medina
Jan 16 (Reuters) – A study by AI risk management platform Alethea into the surge in artificial intelligence-generated fake content, dubbed “AI slop,” has warned sports teams, leagues and fans of the risks posed by increasingly sophisticated digital misinformation.
Retired NFL player Jason Kelce never said 2026 Super Bowl halftime singer Bad Bunny’s critics were “a bad fit for America’s future”.
San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle never ranted about slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk and politics in football.
However, thousands of people believed they did and that is the problem.
“Teams and players are suddenly being accused of things that are completely fabricated,” Lisa Kaplan, founder and CEO of Alethea, told Reuters on Friday, adding that the evolution of AI tools has made fake news a more daunting challenge.
“Content now looks real and is produced at a volume that makes it hard for the average person to determine if it’s authentic,” she said.
“Before, fake news often relied on human labour to repetitively copy and paste content. Today, AI can impersonate brands and create engaging images that mimic genuine announcements.”
Kaplan noted that this wave of AI-generated misinformation has disrupted the traditional monetisation model of sports media. “These networks drive engagement to questionable websites, skew advertising metrics, and can even create scenarios that could manipulate betting markets,” she added.
C Shawn Eib, Alethea’s Head of Investigations, described how these networks use tactics such as making multiple disjointed announcements, like the conflicting claims that former Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh had been hired by multiple teams at the same time.
“When a single figure appears to be linked with several teams at the same time, it quickly becomes clear that an AI system is behind the creation of these images,” Eib explained.
AI DECEPTION CAN EXPLOIT ‘RAGE BAIT’
The content follows a formula: fake game updates, nonexistent celebrity feuds, manufactured scandals, and politicised quotes falsely attributed to star players.
The fabricated Kelce and Kittle quotes are prime examples. Both NFL stars publicly denied making comments they never said after the posts went viral.
“If fans, players and even entire franchises fall prey to these manipulated narratives, it risks damaging reputations, undermining trust and even politicising sport,” Alethea’s VP of Communications Kaila Ryan said.
“Sports organisations need to proactively manage their brands and digital safety. It is crucial for teams and leagues to start monitoring these risks, work together across communications, legal and security teams, and educate fans to verify announcements from official channels,” she added.
The business impact extends beyond reputational harm.
These networks siphon ad revenue from legitimate sports media and distort audience metrics. Some outbound links have been flagged for phishing and malicious redirects, presenting real fraud risk to fans.
The problem is not limited to the NFL. Alethea discovered similar operations targeting the NBA, WNBA, MLB, NHL, NASCAR, Formula 1, IndyCar and professional tennis.
Kaplan added that beyond monetisation, sport remains a rare cultural touchpoint that unites people, making them attractive targets for influence operations, and she pointed to Russia’s alleged exploitation of then-49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s 2018 ‘Take a Knee’ protest as a precedent.
In a 2019 report, the Senate Intelligence Committee revealed that Russian trolls had focused heavily on the kneeling debate as part of a broader effort to stoke racial tensions and divide the U.S. following the 2016 election.
“Kaepernick’s protests were exploited for a purpose that had nothing to do with sport. Instead, it’s a way of leveraging a cultural touchstone and turning it into something that polarises people,” said Kaplan.
“Teams need to work in unison to defend their identities and protect their fans from falling victim to fraud or manipulation,” she added, noting that the best advice for fans is to be vigilant.
“Verify breaking news through official team channels, don’t click links in suspicious page comments and remember that outrage is often the product, not the by-product, of what you’re seeing”.
(Reporting by Angelica Medina in Mexico City; Editing by Ken Ferris)
