TKO President Mark Shapiro Reportedly Confirms Use Of AI In WWE Storylines

TKO President Mark Shapiro called the company's embrace of AI a "major priority" before confirming its use in WWE storylines. 

TKO's executives hosted a town hall on Monday, with POST Wrestling reporting the subjects discussed within after obtaining audio of the internal call. 

During the town hall, TKO Chief Financial Officer Andrew Schleimer reportedly got onto the company's use of AI, noting that they had only run tests and pilots and were still in the early stages. He was said to have cited the use of AI for data and analytics on WWE and UFC consumers, as well as minor uses to enhance broadcasts. 

Shapiro then continued to emphasize how AI could help employees become more efficient and productive, as well as how the UFC uses AI for fighter rankings. 

"Nick Khan and Triple H are using AI for storylines with the WWE," he is quoted in the report. "What's resonating? What superstars are resonating? In what pockets of the country are they resonating? That helps us with, obviously, our content, our editorial, our creative, our mapping, our touring, and of course, maximizing revenue and getting our product out to the fans most in need of it."

The subject of AI being used in TKO has been prevalent both sides of the WWE-UFC split; UFC's Chief Content Officer Craig Borsari and President Dana White have recently pushed back on criticism of its use for event branding, and reports emerged from Dave Meltzer late last year to say WWE had been using AI. 

At the time, there had been push back to that idea and it was being communicated that it was being used as an organizational tool akin to a writer's assistant. But Meltzer stood by his reporting and said that would not always be the case.