‘It helped me a little’ - Cristiano Ronaldo uses AI to prepare award speech

The five-time Ballon d’Or winner was presented with a Prestige Globe Award after an impressive season.

The award was presented to him on Monday by the Portuguese Football Federation following his impact on the national team. 

This adds to his list of award collection the forward has collected in past years, showing how influential he has been in world football.

Upon receiving the award, Ronaldo began his speech with a surprising Arabic greeting that caught the audience's attention.

The Al Nassr forward took to the stage and said, "Good evening, 'Salaam Alaikum'," before revealing that he used Perplexity to prepare his speech, as reported on X.

“This afternoon, I sat at the table thinking about what I would say in this speech. I said to myself: ‘What is the Prestige Globe Award? Is it a career-ending award?’

“I felt a bit nervous and said: ‘It can’t be that.’ Then I did some research on Perplexity, if you don’t know it, look it up later and it helped me a little.”

Perplexity is an AI-driven answer engine that delivers accurate, reliable and current responses to any question asked.

In his acceptance speech, Ronaldo said, "I have trophies at home, but this one is special," he stated. 

"I got nervous, thinking this prestigious award might mean the end of my career, and I even asked for help. But it's not; it's a source of pride after 22 years of dedication to Portugal."

The football icon also expressed gratitude to his colleagues. "Thanks to teammates like Rui [Costa], Pepe, the coaches and all the generations that have helped."

The World Cup remains the only major international trophy that has eluded the legendary Portuguese player throughout his illustrious career.