Ari Emanuel Champions Brother Rahm for President, Dismisses AI Taste

TKO Group executive chair and WME Group CEO Ari Emanuel took the stage in London on Saturday for a wide-ranging conversation that touched on artificial intelligence, the fractures in American politics, and the tangled dealmaking that defined his career. The event, framed around his new memoir Roll the Calls — published by Penguin Random House — was moderated by former Vanity Fair and New Yorker editor-in-chief Tina Brown, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

AI Has No Taste, Emanuel Argues

Emanuel, whose client roster has included Martin Scorsese, Denzel Washington, Oprah Winfrey, and Billie Eilish, used his experience as a longtime agent to mount a pointed case against over-reliance on artificial intelligence. The core of his argument: AI cannot replicate human judgment.

"AI is just an average, a very good average," he told the London audience. He contended that curiosity, taste, and judgment remain distinctly human qualities that no algorithm can reproduce. Taste, in his view, develops only through time and accumulated experience — something a machine fundamentally lacks.

He was not entirely dismissive of the technology's potential. He acknowledged that AI could serve as a powerful tool in the hands of genuinely creative people, pointing to his wife, a fashion designer who uses AI in her work but remains the source of the creative direction. The concern he raised was not that AI would replace creativity outright, but that society risks undervaluing the human qualities that give creativity its meaning. On the question of AI's moral deficits — a point Brown pressed him on — Emanuel conceded it was a problem without an obvious solution.

For more on Emanuel's broader industry views, see Steve Way's Candid Critique of Ari Emanuel and the Entertainment Industry.

The UFC Deal: Brexit, Banks, and Competing Bidders

When asked to identify the most difficult transaction of his career, Emanuel pointed without hesitation to the sale of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He had represented UFC for roughly 25 years when the moment to sell arrived. The expected buyer, Fox, passed. Warner Bros. was in the middle of scaling back its operations. A Chinese consortium emerged as the chief rival bidder, but UFC president Dana White had no interest in that route.

What ultimately complicated the process further, Emanuel said only half-jokingly, was Brexit. The vote rattled financial markets and destabilized the banking infrastructure the deal depended on, forcing the parties to navigate a turbulent credit environment to close. Despite the obstacles, the transaction was completed. Emanuel's role in reshaping the sports and entertainment landscape is also detailed in Ari Emanuel's Memoir Reveals Hollywood's Inner Workings — and Its Limits.

Sports as Common Ground in a Divided Nation

Emanuel, who identifies as a Democrat, argued that live sports — and UFC in particular — carry a social function that extends beyond entertainment. In a politically polarized country, he said, sports offer a rare space where people from opposing camps can share an experience. He expressed a preference for engaging with those across the political divide rather than retreating into partisan insularity.

He was equally direct in rejecting the fringes of both parties, stating he had no interest in aligning with either MAGA or the Democratic Socialists of America. On Trump, he was measured but not silent, noting that the administration's handling of Ukraine troubled him and that he intended to follow up with the president directly on unspecified matters.

His electoral hopes for the Democrats were straightforward: recapture the Senate and the House in the midterms.

A Presidential Pitch for Rahm Emanuel

Perhaps the most pointed moment of the evening came when Emanuel turned to his brother, former Chicago mayor and U.S. ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, as a serious presidential prospect. He described his brother as a centrist Democrat and argued there was no better-qualified candidate for the White House. The endorsement was delivered with conviction rather than as casual family loyalty.

For context on Emanuel's ongoing influence in Hollywood's regulatory and business battles, see Ari Emanuel Calls on State AGs to Drop Paramount-Warners Suit.