3:25 PM -- The Arena Group just released a statement on the matter ... insisting allegations that it published AI-generated articles on the Sports Illustrated platform are simply "not accurate."

"The articles in question were product reviews and were licensed content from an external, third-party company, AdVon Commerce," The Arena Group said. "A number of AdVon’s e-commerce articles ran on certain Arena websites. We continually monitor our partners and were in the midst of a review when these allegations were raised."

"AdVon has assured us that all of the articles in question were written and edited by humans. According to AdVon, their writers, editors, and researchers create and curate content and follow a policy that involves using both counter-plagiarism and counter-AI software on all content."

"However," the statement continued, "we have learned that AdVon had writers use a pen or pseudo name in certain articles to protect author privacy -- actions we strongly condemn -- and we are removing the content while our internal investigation continues and have since ended the partnership."

The human writers at Sports Illustrated say they're appalled by allegations that their upper management has posted AI-generated articles on their platform ... and now, they're demanding answers.

Futurism dropped a bombshell report on Monday alleging SI, for months, has been using AI to create fake authors as well as content.

The outlet reported Sports Illustrated would use images from a site that produces AI-generated headshots for fake author pages, and then would attribute stories to them. At times, according to the report, the stories would be AI-written too.

In a scathing statement released later Monday afternoon by SI's writers -- who call themselves the SI Union -- they said they were "horrified" by the report ... and they now want action from their parent company, The Arena Group, ASAP if it's all found to be true.

"We demand answers and transparency from Arena Group management about what exactly has been published under the SI name," the SI Union wrote. "We demand the company commit to adhering to basic journalistic standards, including not publishing computer-written stories by fake people."

The Union also said in the statement they "deplore being associated with something so disrespectful to our readers."

"For nearly 70 years, SI staff members have held themselves to the highest possible ethical standards," they continued. "As members of the SI Union, we are proud to be part of that legacy and work every day to protect it. We expect management to do the same."

According to Futurism, The Arena Group did not respond to questions about the alleged fabrications ... though the outlet claims "all the AI-generated authors disappeared from Sports Illustrated's site without explanation" after it reached out.