Paradium’s continued focus on AI for publishing is fascinating in light of its not-so-distant history with AI scandal. Back in November 2023, a Futurism investigation revealed that the company, then still called The Arena Group, had published AI-generated content bylined by fake AI writers on the website of Sports Illustrated, which at the time was the company’s crown jewel. (The content had been provided by a third-party contractor, AdVon Commerce, which published similar content at other partners across the media ecosystem.) Several executives, including then-CEO Ross Levinsohn, were fired soon after, and The Arena Group ultimately lost control of the Sports Illustrated brand.
Fast forward a few years, the company is now called Paradium, and AI content is central to its business model.
Paradium isn’t the only media company to suffer bleak downturns amid all-in AI pivots: BuzzFeed, once a giant of the content economy of the 2010s, also reported somber Q3 results as its own controversial AI push has yet to pay off.
