AI seems to be moving at lightning speed lately—smarter tech, faster responses, and a growing list of industries it’s creeping into. With that, it’s no surprise that people are starting to worry about their jobs being replaced by machines. But Joe Rogan? He’s not losing sleep over it.
When it comes to what he does in the world of live sports and entertainment, Rogan’s confident that AI just can’t compete. In his eyes, there’s something raw, unpredictable, and deeply human about live sports and performing arts—and that’s a kind of magic no algorithm can replicate.
AI has exploded over the past few years, and it’s hard not to notice just how quickly it’s making its way into almost every industry. From chatbots running customer service to software writing articles and even producing music, it’s like something out of a sci-fi movie—except it’s real, and it’s happening now.
In healthcare, AI is helping doctors diagnose patients faster. In schools, it’s being used to fill gaps left by teacher shortages. On factory floors and in warehouses, AI-powered robots are taking over repetitive tasks, working around the clock without a coffee break. But with the creative arts, Rogan believes, AI is no match for tens of thousands of years of human evolution.
Speaking about AI taking over him as the UFC commentator, he said, “Well, it’s also a live performance. The last human stand is where you can go and see a guy actually play a guitar. That is a real human experience…”
“Live sporting events, things that are real. That is going to be the hardest to be replaced by AI”, he added.
However, the JRE host also claimed that it could very easily “replace us”, referring to podcast hosts.
“You essentially could take my perspective shared over the past 2000-plus episodes and run it through a large language model and use AI and have me have a podcast with basically anybody,” Rogan pointed out.
At this point, it even replacing Rogan on his podcast seems like a far-fetched idea. Notably, Oscar-winning actor-director Ben Affleck had commented on the potential of AI in accordance with its current development and said that it could only produce cheap mimicry.
He had also explained Rogan’s idea of putting his likeness through a language model.
“AI is a craftsman at best. It can learn to make Stickley furniture by sitting down next to somebody and seeing what their technique is and imitating it. That’s how large language models basically work,” he told a CNBC investors summit in 2024.
In line with what Rogan had said about true creativity, the Batman vs. Superman actor had claimed that AI, at this stage, lacks the ability to write Shakespeare and makes up for it by producing sonnets that sound Elizabethan in nature.
He doesn’t believe this is going to change for the foreseeable future. However, even with the abilities it possesses right now, AI could wreak havoc on civilization, assuming it hasn’t done so already.
Rogan stunned by English-speaking Hitler
On an episode of his podcast last year, Rogan discussed how the AI’s translation made Hitler’s rhetoric sound less radical than expected.
He remarked, “He doesn’t sound nearly as radical (in English) as you thought he did… He’s not funny. Like, Trump is funny.”
The veteran commentator had then emphasized the importance of being cautious with such technology, noting that the AI’s ability to make Hitler’s speeches more palatable could be misleading.
He highlighted the potential dangers of AI altering historical content, making it seem less severe than it truly was. Rogan was stunned that Hitler’s agenda against the Jewish people across the globe wasn’t as publicly advertised in his speeches as he had initially thought.
It should be noted that hate speeches against a community in any part of the world have always begun with subtle manipulation before it is made official propaganda. Needless to say, fascists generally don’t tend to go around declaring their taste for fascism.
