Joe Rogan called out for ‘hypocritical’ AI stance as resurfaced JRE clip goes viral
Joe Rogan has been flamed for his contradictory comments on artificial intelligence after a podcast clip resurfaced.
The UFC commentator launched the Joe Rogan Experience back in 2009, and it’s since become Spotify’s most popular show, amassing more than 2,600 episodes and tens of millions of monthly listeners.
Despite its huge reach, the show was left off the Golden Globes’ newly introduced podcast category for 2026.
In October, Battlestar Galactica star Katee Sackhoff joined Rogan for an episode, which has since gone viral on Twitter.
Advert
They were discussing the obsession the actor's three-and-a-half year-old daughter has with KPop Demon Hunters when Rogan mentioned artificial intelligence.
"The music on this thing is absolutely phenomenal," she said, while also praising the movie's inspirational message of self-belief.
Further educating Rogan on the hit Netflix film, she explained the actors behind the animated characters are voiced by real people, who helped write the original music.
Adding she'd loved to see them in concert, the pair discovered the voice actors were actually performing at iHeartRadio's Jingle Ball.
To that, Rogan said: "If you have these anime characters that represent the music and then all a sudden you see a human doing it, you're like, 'Huh?'
"Probably would be better if AI made the music."
Sackhoff was quick to shut him down.
"Stop it! It will never be better if AI makes the music," she hit back as Rogan laughed. "You just broke my soul, Joe!"
When he quipped that AI is 'making some really good music', Sackhoff immediately shot back: "It's also making some great podcasts."
Rogan's laughter stopped dead.
"Well, I don't know about that," he responded, before deflecting the conversation back to KPop Demon Hunters.
'I don't care'
Later on in the episode, Rogan played Sackhoff his favorite song; an AI 'soul cover' of 50 Cent's 'What Up Gangsta'.
As much as he loves the rapper, Rogan claimed the AI cover was even better than the original track.
Again, Sackhoff challenged him, asking: "If you'd gone to 50 Cent and said, 'Can you get together with a producer and create this for me?' Do you think he could have done it?"
Rogan answered yes, as Sackhoff continued: "But we never gave him the chance to do it. So, we're sort of robbing him."
Rogan responded that 50 Cent has had 30 years to do so, then defended his love of the AI song: "I know what you're saying, but my point is that it tricks me and I know the trick... and I don't care. It's that good. And no one else cared in the green room."
Social media reaction
People who are concerned about the ever-expanding use of AI and its impact on jobs, especially in the creative industry, do care, however.
The discussion was reignited when one social media user tweeted this week: "The 'you should love ai' line is best outlined by a recent joe rogan episode.
"He LOVES ai music and always tells guests this. a guest pushed back on him saying 'I’ve heard ai podcasts are amazing too' and joe rogan immediately pushes back."
"We live in the funniest timeline," another person agreed. "Everyone thinks AI is great at everything. Except their job."
Somebody else said: "This is why it's insane to me that ALL artists don't present a united front when it comes to AI slop.
"Whether it be visual arts, music, voice acting, writing, whatever... the end goal is to wipe us ALL out. The end goal of the AI lovers is to never pay ANY of us for our hard work,"
50 Cent's reaction
If you were curious as to what 50 Cent makes of AI covers of his music, then here's your answer.
The rapper recently spoke to Complex about AI reworks of his songs '21 Questions' and 'God Gave Me Style'.
Turns out, they have his approval.
"I really like those songs!" he said. "Look, it will reach someone that I missed. Someone who couldn’t hear what I was trying to say to them in the writing can hear it now that it’s in that format. They’ll go, ‘Oh, yo! Play that again!’"
Further defending it, 50 Cent added: "I don’t like fighting fights that I can’t win, I don’t think you can beat AI.
"I think we need to look at how we create businesses that work well with it and performs faster and progresses as [AI] progresses because it’s not gonna stop progress."
There you have it, from the big man himself.
UNILAD has contacted representatives of Joe Rogan for comment.
Topics: Joe Rogan, Artificial Intelligence, Podcast, 50 Cent, Music
Ellie Kemp