UFC CEO Dana White has no qualms about the company using AI for their creative operations, such as event announcements, digital media, and broadcast graphics. Fans have strongly criticised this move on social media, but White is unbothered. In fact, he went on a heated rant when asked about it.
Dana White calls out UFC fans for criticizing AI use
UFC has been using AI systems by partners, including IBM and 4D Sight, for event tasks. The UFC Insights Engine uses AI models for analysing historical and live fight data to produce advanced statistics and contextual information. Further, 4D Sight’s AI deep‑learning technology for showing sponsor branding and hyperlocal advertisements.
During a post-fight press conference following UFC Seattle on March 28, a journalist brought up that fans have noticed the AI-generated promotional content in UFC broadcasts. The 56-year-old asked, “What does that mean?” The journalist clarified that fans were upset with the AI-generated commercials, promotional content, and generative AI in UFC productions in general. White then asked, “What are they complaining about?”
Then, the journalist explained that fans believe UFC should hire human artists for all this content. White’s response was far from vague. He replied, “Give me a f*cking break. AI is coming, and if we’re using AI, who gives a sh*t? People are upset about it. We should use artists. How about this? Shut the f*ck up and watch the fights.”
White’s reply is a stark contrast to how some other popular content creators have responded to similar backlash. Last year, MrBeast launched an AI thumbnail generation tool for YouTube. Even then, fans were not happy with this move and called out the YouTuber. Consequently, he shut down the tool and instead launched a marketplace to hire human thumbnail designers. However, considering White’s reaction to the fan backlash, it seems unlikely that UFC will stop using AI anytime soon.
Originally written by Ankita Shaw on Mandatory.
