Shannon Sharpe recently addressed the media about the controversy surrounding NBA star Ja Morant and accused him of using the AI generator ChatGPT to write his apology. This followed an incident in which Morant was seen waving a handgun on an Instagram Live video. In response to the transgression, the Memphis Grizzlies suspended the point guard, leaving him to issue an apology (via Adrian Wojnarowski). Morant conceded, “I know I’ve disappointed a lot of people who have supported me. This is a journey and I recognize there is more work to do. My words may not mean much right now, but I take full accountability for my actions. I’m committed to continuing to work on myself.”
The public responded harshly, stating the apology was recycled and was likely written by an AI generator such as ChatGPT. This belief was shared by former NFL player Shannon Sharpe, who went on TV to voice his opinion. He felt that the apology read was not even close to what Ja would normally say and the language felt very robotic.
In response to these second infractions, the NBA suspended Morant for eight games (including time served). In addition, Commissioner Adam Silver has spoken out about this, noting that he was shocked when he saw the video and had multiple conversations with the star.
The League is yet to announce a full punishment for Ja Morant. However, due to his repeat offenses, it is likely that the Memphis Grizzlies’ point guard will be facing a lengthy suspension.
ChatGPT is a text generator tool developed by SG7 that enables users to produce texts automatically based on AI algorithms. This tool has become quite popular in the past couple of years and has been successfully used by sports journalists, authors, and talk show hosts to generate unique texts quickly and easily.
