Source : the age
Amid a sea of anti-AI sentiment and anxiety among musicians and creatives, one artist is going distinctly against the grain.
William Adams, better known as Will.i.am, is the frontman of The Black Eyed Peas, who rose to popularity in the 2000s for songs like Where is the Love?, Boom Boom Pow and I Gotta Feeling.
A rapper, songwriter, producer and actor, Will.i.am is also fiercely pro-AI, launching a new tech start-up that he regards as the future of radio. On the free platform, Raidio.fyi, conversational AI-powered radio hosts chat back to users in real-time. Users can interrupt the AI DJ to ask about the artist currently playing, or for more information about the news or weather.
William Adams, better known as Will.i.am, is the front man of The Black Eyed Peas, who rose to popularity in the 2000s for songs like Where is the Love?, Boom Boom Pow’ and I Gotta Feeling.
The start-up may put the artist at odds with some of his peers, who are anxious about being replaced by AI, but Will.i.am is adamant that they should be working with – rather than fighting – the new technology.
“I’ve been working with computers my whole entire career,” he told this masthead in Las Vegas at CES, the world’s largest technology summit.
“I make music on computers. And creatives, whether you’re creating in an era where Prince was making songs, or Michael Jackson was creating, or now, it should not daunt your reason for releasing your passions, inspiration and ideas.
“If you’re using AI when you’re creating, who gives a f—? It shouldn’t intimidate you. It should push you, motivate you. It’s gonna do some pretty awesome stuff.”
Will.i.am performing at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, in November, 2019.Credit: Rick Clifford
The launch of Raidio.fyi comes as musicians, actors and artists fret that their work will be used to train artificial intelligence models. More than 12,000 creatives including members of ABBA, Radiohead and The Cure have signed an open letter calling for prohibition of using human art, without permission, to train artificial intelligence.
“The unlicensed use of creative works for training generative AI is a major, unjust threat to the livelihoods of the people behind those works, and must not be permitted,” reads the petition, which is not addressed to anyone in particular.
Meanwhile, in June, some of the world’s largest record labels teamed up take two prominent AI music-making companies to court, alleging that they trained their models on decades’ worth of copyrighted sound recordings without consent.
At CES, artist and entrepreneur will.i.am unveiled new suite of Bluetooth speakers and ear buds in partnership with LG.Credit: AP Images for LG
For Will.i.am, the lack of regulations and governance covering who owns what must be addressed.
“Creatives are not secure, and I want to make sure that creatives are protected,” he said. “But creatives are going to be OK. Some people are afraid of AI, and how rapidly it makes music. I write heartbreak songs because my heart was broken, and those types of creatives aren’t going anywhere.
“The community that I think is at risk the most are assistants. There’s billions of dollars going to copilots and assistants, so I’m worried about assistants and finance folks more than I am about beat makers and singers.”
Will.i.am has a long history with the technology sector: a member of the World Economic Forum’s Fourth Industrial Revolution Advisory Committee, he previously served as chipmaker Intel’s director of creative innovation. In 2009, he launched the i.am Angel Foundation to support young people studying computer science and robotics in the Los Angeles neighbourhood where he was raised.
At CES, the entrepreneur also unveiled new suite of Bluetooth speakers and ear buds in partnership with LG, dubbed Xboom by Will.i.am, to launch this year.
LG recently appointed the musician to be the “Experiential Architect” of the Xboom brand, whose devices use AI to analyse content being played, and automatically adjust the sound to accentuate the melody, rhythm or voice. They also feature a dedicated button to connect to the Raidio.fyi platform.
“By the end of the year, I would love for it to be in all LG TVs and radios. It’ll be in hundreds of millions of devices that will have Raidio.fyi built-in.”
David Swan travelled to Las Vegas with support from Samsung, LG and Hisense.
Get news and reviews on technology, gadgets and gaming in our Technology newsletter. Sign up to receive it every Friday.
