The world is stepping into a new era where technology and creativity are coming together, and WWE is not lagging behind. Its parent company, TKO, is starting to use AI in its work.
During a recent meeting with employees, company president and COO Mark Shapiro said WWE leaders now actively use AI. Moreover, he mentioned that WWE is looking to change how it works behind the scenes.
Mark Shapiro details WWE’s use of AI across internal operations
While fans mostly focus on matches and storylines, numerous changes happen backstage as times change. Shapiro explained that AI is already being used to study fan behavior and help with decisions across the company.
He said Chief Content Officer Paul Levesque and WWE President Nick Khan are using AI tools to understand what resonates among fans. These tools can track which wrestlers are getting popular and what different regions prefer and help guide creative ideas and event planning.
“Nick Khan and Triple H are using AI for storylines with the WWE. 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,” Shapiro said (via Post Wrestling).
This is similar to how AI is already used in UFC for rankings and performance analysis.
However, WWE is still in the early stages of using AI. TKO Chief Financial Officer Andrew Schleimer said they are mostly testing things right now, especially with fan data and small improvements in broadcasts. So, AI is important, but it’s not fully used yet.
One important area is creative writing. WWE has teamed up with Writer AI to help writers come up with ideas and organize stories. That said, not everything has worked perfectly. To help with all this, WWE hired Cyrus Kowsari as Senior Director of Creative Strategy. He has helped bring AI into areas like video, graphics, and production, while making sure it supports the overall product.
Right now, it looks like AI will be used more for production work than storytelling.
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