Black Eyed Peas star harnesses AI for novel radio product

CEBU, Philippines — Unlike many artists, will.i.am, lead singer of the Black Eyed Peas, is not at war with artificial intelligence. On the contrary: he has just launched a new radio concept, where AI plays host and DJ.

“Tech is the most creative space," will.i.am told AFP. Working with technology is like starting a band, he said. “When you put a team of developers together, it’s like, ‘Hey, let’s start a group. What type of songs do you want to make? Where do you want to tour?’”

As founder and CEO of the startup FYI, will.i.am recently unveiled RAiDiO.FYI, a set of themed, interactive stations available on the FYI.AI app. The platform features an AI host that reads news and introduces music, mimicking traditional radio stations. The key difference is that users can interrupt and interact with the AI.

“I heard Melania Trump was modeling nude with five hamsters. What’s that about?” will.i.am provocatively asked his app as a demonstration. “Whoaaa…where are you getting these wild stories from?” the radio answered back.

“She did do some nude modeling back in the day,” it continued, “but I never heard any credible sources mentioning her modeling with five hamsters. Sounds like some fake news, right?”

Currently, the radio station has a limited playlist of 40 tracks. However, William Adams (will.i.am’s birth name) is actively working to secure rights to broader music catalogs. His goal is to innovate in radio because he sees it as an ally to musicians, unlike streaming platforms such as Spotify, which he believes underpay artists.

- ‘No imagination’ -

Will.i.am’s venture into AI-powered radio is just the latest chapter in his tech-savvy career. Since his rise to fame with the Black Eyed Peas, the rapper has invested in various sectors, from fashion to technology.

He’s particularly passionate about generative AI, setting him apart from many artists who view the technology with concern. Many artists are up in arms over models such as ChatGPT, which produce texts, images and audio simply by being asked in everyday language, after being trained by material scraped online.

Will.i.am draws parallels to the past. “We saw this when we went from paintings to cameras: ‘Ah, it took me two weeks to make this painting, and this guy comes and puts the button and boom, now he has a photo!” he said. “There’s always going to be this growing pain, and that’s because something is birthing. A new type of artist is coming.”

He believes that human creativity remains safe from the power of AI. “What AI doesn’t do is imagine, it mimics,” he said. “It’s not going to imagine better than you.”

- ‘You ain’t human’ -

Will.i.am acknowledges the potential dangers of AI, especially as Silicon Valley races to develop human-level artificial intelligence. “You mean to tell me, we’re about to deploy autonomous machines, and we never did a psych test on the folks building them? Get the f--k outta here! Let’s start there.”

The 49-year-old artist enjoys engaging in debates with his AI radio, using it as a tool to test ideas. During the interview, he asks about human cognitive abilities, compared to those of AI.

“That’s one deep, deep question you got there,” the radio answers. “Listen, listen, first off, let’s bust a myth. Humans don’t just use 10 percent of their brains. We use pretty much all of it...”

will.i.am quickly corrected it: “Hey refrain from saying ‘we’, because you ain’t human, you’re the AI.”

In his day-to-day life, will.i.am says he maintains a balance between embracing AI and preserving his human creativity. He doesn’t use AI assistants for writing messages, preferring to compose his own thoughts.

“I like to write. I like to compose my thoughts. I don’t want to hand off my expressive work to something,” he explained, adding he turns to AI when he needs “something to brainstorm with.”