The Olympics are facing criticism for seemingly using artificial intelligence to create an animated version of their mascot for the 2026 Youth Olympic Games, even though they asked children to submit mascot designs.
Olympic mascots are memorable for many people. While their designs often generate discussion – sometimes positive, sometimes negative – they always offer a glimpse into the culture of the city hosting the Games.
Creating a mascot often takes a lot of time, and sometimes includes asking the public for suggestions. That’s what happened with the 2026 Youth Olympics in Dakar, Senegal – the final designs were chosen from submissions by two 16-year-old artists.
So, they created this mascot, Ayo, and it looks really cool! But there’s some drama – people are saying the Olympics might have used AI to actually draw him, which is kinda weird. As a gamer, I’m used to seeing AI art, but it feels different when it’s for something like the Olympics, you know?
Meet the official mascot for the 2026 Dakar Rally! The design was chosen through a country-wide contest organized by the Dakar 2026 committee and the Ministry of National Education. Students in middle and high school submitted over 500 entries to compete.
— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) November 1, 2025
According to the Olympics’ announcement on November 1st, the mascot Ayo was created by two 16-year-olds: Ndeye Mariama Diop designed the character, and Ndeye Khady Kristall Coumbassa came up with the name. However, the finished design has received criticism online, with some pointing out its artificial, AI-generated look.
People were upset that the original design, created by a young artist, was significantly worsened by artificial intelligence. One person commented, “You claim to encourage creativity, but you took someone’s work and used AI to ruin it.” Another agreed, saying the original design was far superior to the AI-altered version.
One person wrote, “Please take this down right away. The first picture clearly took effort. What you’ve done is awful.” Another commenter questioned, “You earn so much money – why can’t you afford to hire an artist? Seriously?”
This video includes AI-generated images
— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) October 31, 2025
The Olympics acknowledged that Ayo’s introductory video contained images created using AI. However, they haven’t confirmed whether the mascot itself was created by AI or a human artist.
People are still leaving critical comments on the game’s social media posts, with many saying they preferred the initial design ideas to the final product.
“The original design has so much life in it, what happened?” another chimed in.
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2025-11-03 18:20