AEW's Tony Schiavone Believes AI Is Going To Make Commentators Unnecessary

AEW announcer Tony Schiavone believes AI could render himself and others professionally obsolete. 

Schiavone has been in broadcasting for decades, having announced for Jim Crockett Promotions, WWE and WCW in the 1980s and 1990s, before moving on from wrestling in 2001. He has since returned, firstly with MLW in 2017, and now effectively a part of the furniture in AEW since 2019. 

But during the latest episode of his podcast "What Happened When" he took some time out to ponder the role AI will play in the coming future. 

"AI has been such a great tool for me," he said. "As far as being able to search things and looking for answers for things, and it's just, it's really cool. It's just the beginning boys and girls."

There have been some valid concerns to arise from the rapid expansion of AI as opposed to the regulation and safeguarding measures imposed in parallel. But Schiavone had a rather optimistic outlook in that regard. 

"Humans are what made AI, and you gotta realize that humans are smart enough to make AI, so they're smart enough, I would think, to be able to use AI the right way. I know there's a lot of terrible people in the world, and who knows if a lot of those terrible people are working on AI. But I believe it's gonna work well," he said. "I also believe that the time is ticking for announcers."

Schiavone ultimately concluded that any worries would likely be irrelevant for him anyway at the age of 68. Though he said he is interested to see how things change.