Will.i.am believes creatives will continue to stand the test of times in the midst of artificial intelligence (AI).

One Step Ahead In Technology

The rapper and singer-songwriter has been ahead of the curve of technology for quite some time. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, he was an early investor in Beats Electronics and even incorporated their technology in the Black Eyed Peas’ “Boom Boom Pow” music video 15 years ago.

He reportedly made a fortune from the investment when Apple acquired Beats Electronics and Beats Music for an amount nearing $3 billion.

Will.i.am’s interests in technology have only widened since then. He invested in machine learning startup Inflection AI, and through a private investment group he has invested in additional companies empowered by AI such as:

  • Udio
  • Anthropic
  • OpenAi
  • Runaway

FYI (Focus Your Ideas)

He is also leading change through his own company FYI (Focus Your Ideas). As AFROTECH™ previously reported it is an AI-driven collaboration platform created alongside Sunil Reddy, who also serves as CTO. It caters to the creator economy and is empowering them further by helping them streamline storyboarding, messaging and video calls to high-quality file sharing and scheduling, its website listed.

Beyond its conventions, he believes the platform is necessary as a result of the lack of representation in the space as it pertains to launching communication tools.

“It’s very rare that, especially in the AI space now, that people that come from the projects or from communities that reflect those types of conditions of living, we don’t build communication tools,” he told AFROTECH™ during Invest Fest 2024. “And to let folks in the community know that, ‘Yo, we we should be competing in this space.’ For every Amazon, there should be our version of that. For every WhatsApp, there should be our version of that… So, what we’re trying to do is, you know, inspire, mentor, and connect creative to strategy, connect creative to organization, to knowledge. Connect creative to materialization with our tools and intent. And all the while, keep everybody’s data and assets safe with our elliptical curve cryptography methodologies.”

True Creatives Will Win In The Age Of AI

Will.i.am’s also hopes AI will spark a creative bug among other artists. He believes AI has the power to help them formalize their ideas quicker but he does not think that the technology could be a threat to those who are “chasing the algorithm.”

“Get your skills up. Play, dance, sing. And I can’t say right now we’re being pushed creatively because we’re chasing algorithms. Where humans are the creative industry is mimicking algorithmic recipes for attention,” he said. “And what used to be five minutes is now 15 seconds of hyper duplication… We have awesome ass f-cking musicians and sh-t doing wild ass sh-t in the ’70s and ’60s and ’50s. That’s true innovation. True imagination expressed, true expression. So if you’re gonna chase algorithms, AI is gonna do a better job understanding the algorithm.”

From his viewpoint the “true creatives, hypercreatives, ideators, dreamers, innovators” and “imagineers” will be in good standing in the rise of AI.

“They’re gonna be alright because they’re gonna see this as a way to materialize ideas quicker and more importantly, the ability to be a part of the design of tomorrow,” Will.i.am mentioned.