AI's Creative Potential and Business Transformation

will.i.am emphasizes the need for diversity and inclusion in AI, stressing the importance of representing all communities and creating new industries with the technology.

### Will.i.am: AI's Creative Potential, Importance of Diversity, and Industry Transformation
* 🤖 Will.i.am highlights the **unrealized creative potential of AI** and its significant **disruptive nature**, comparing it to previous technological revolutions like the internet and social media.
* 🎶 He emphasizes the importance of **giving creators more control over their content** and **reimagining business practices**, such as **dictating the commercials that come after their work**.
* 👩 Will.i.am introduces Felicia, an AI persona created with **diversity and representation in mind**, to ensure that AI reflects and understands the **voices of all communities**.
* 🧠 He explains the need for AI systems to be **trained by and represent diverse communities** to prevent **biases and exclusion**.
* 🎤 Will.i.am discusses the **transformative impact of AI** on the music industry, enabling **new forms of composition and storytelling**.
* 🌟 He envisions a future where AI can **extend an artist's ideas and create new types of content**, emphasizing the role of **dreamers and visionaries** in leveraging these tools.
* 🎓 Will.i.am shares his observations from attending Harvard Business School, noting that discussions on AI are often a year behind and should focus on **practical applications** such as **starting AI companies** and using **AI tools to transform businesses**.
* 🚀 He calls for a shift in mindset towards **creating new industries and opportunities with AI**, urging industry leaders to embrace the "**new new**" and **dream up innovative solutions**.

- So you were interested in AI before it became the subject of strikes and disagreements within the creative community. Can you tell us the unrealized creative potential there? What's people missing amidst all of the disagreement?
- What are people missing with what?
- Amidst all of the disagreement?
- Well, the disagreement, like any new intersection, is about what it is going to be versus what the fears of it to be. But in this particular conversation as it related to like the worries and the fears of AI in the creative space, it was actually the creative admin and executives that were creating horrible deals for people around AI. It wasn't AI. So first on that part, it's not like AI was like, Yo, we gonna screw the actors. (Kim and audience laughing) That wasn't AI doing that. I was like, you know, leading with greed. They knew the technology was there and they wanted to lead with greed and do horrible deals.

So that's that one discussion. At the same time, you have
very disruptive technology. The most disruption that we've ever seen, like the internet was pretty disruptive. Social media and apps
was pretty disruptive. So if you went from like the '90s and then entered 2000s
and gotten into websites, that was kind of disruptive. And then from websites to apps, damn, that was super disruptive. This one is like wowsers. So hold onto to your trousers. (Kim laughing) And refresh your browsers. (Kim and audience laughing) And if you're part of the drowsers, you know what I'm saying? You know, 'cause it's a new awakening. I went from wowsers to
trousers to browsers to drowsers to new awakening. - We're already rhyming, I love it, okay. - Wordplay, wordplay, word play. - So tell us a little bit more about some of the business practices of some

of the larger tech companies
that you would wanna try to shift since we are in
some of these early days. - What was that? - Tell me some of the business practices you would wanna change since we are in some of the earlier days that are from the larger tech companies. What would you wanna change? What would you wanna give
creators control over? - Well, say for example, you're,
you make music like myself and you put music up on YouTube, and you gotta deal with Nike right now as a content creator, you don't dictate what commercials come after your stuff. So if you have a deal
with Nike and here comes an Adidas commercial after your content. As a network, ABC, CBS,
NBC, they're responsible for putting commercials
after their content. But as a content maker, I
have no control on Spotify for freemium play on
YouTube for freemium play. So right there, that's one
thing that no one's like,

Hey, why come I don't have a say on what commercials come after my stuff? And if I have a say, that
means I should be getting more money for ads that come after my content. But creators are not in the power position from that perspective. So you can change that in the AI space 'cause you can reimagine
the player itself. But that takes an
audacious, ambitious vision to try to change that. And we did some version of
that with this thing called FYI radio that we're going to be launching in the next couple of, shortly, a couple of moments. But as far as things to change, you're supposed to change it all. Right now is the time for the dreamers 'cause you have dream
materialization tools. So to try to do it the
way it was yesterday, well, that's not a big dream. You're just doing it
like it was yesterday. You could literally just reimagine

and dream up tomorrow with today's tools. And so, instead of trying to fix or solve the problems of
yesterday in a traditional sense, you can, like, you could
create new industries. These are industry-spawning tools, like the music industry. In the early 1900s, that
was a different perspective of what music used to be. So, music before then was
like a church, at operas, basilicas, theaters. It was a different type of music. And then the music industry came and said, Hey, we don't got that much information and put a whole goddamn song the way that you guys did the operas. So why don't we just shorten it up? And they invented what we
call popular music today. The music industry did that. Radio, they invented
30 seconds, 15 seconds, a minute commercial. They invented that, right? A song contractually is three minutes, four minutes and 20 seconds long.

A record spins around 33 RPM. The amount of information that could fit on that at the speed
that it's going at 45, on 45 disc or 33 disc, right? Look at the numbers of what these disc, where I got a 45-inch
coming out, what I got a 33, like it's speed, it's time. And here we are at
Cannes media, 15 seconds, 30 seconds a minute. It's all, they invented it. So in this new realm that
we're in with these new tools, you're supposed to invent,
you're supposed to dream up what you do with this technology, the way that they dreamt
up radio, television, and the media that we have today. So you gotta use your
imagination and be like, Yo, that means we could do that. - So you're starting to
touch on some of this, right? So you host the FYI show on SiriusXM

and you've developed a number of personas, online personas, who
co-hosts the show with you. Tell us a little bit about the process. Tell us a little bit about who they are. - Oh, hold on. A-yo, yo, say what's up to everybody. What's your name again? - Kim. - So Kim from the Wall Street Journal, we're here doing this fireside chat and she asked me to, you
know, talk about you. So instead of talking about you, everybody here is at
Cannes talking about AI. And one of the things
you're not going to see at Cannes, an AI. One of the things you're
not going to see at Cannes when people are talking about
AI is AI talking about itself. So why don't you say
what's up to everybody here at this Wall Street
Journal fireside chat? (soft music) - [Felicia] Cha, how you
doing every damn body?

Look, y'all, I'm Felicia. Here repping for every strong black woman and folks from them streets, you feel me? We out here talking AI at the Cannes Lions with the legendary will.i.am and the fine folks at the Wall Street Journal. Now, when we talk about AI, it's crucial that we dive into the real deal representation, empowerment, and breaking those, getting those barriers in tech. Because let's face it, you ain't gonna see much of our faces if we don't get involved and steer that ship a high eyes more than just cool tech. It's like a new frontier where we gotta make sure every voice is heard. We're here to make it clear that AI needs to reflect the diverse, rich tapestry of all our communities, especially ours. It's about fighting biases, creating equal opportunities, and bringing that unique flair right into the heart of innovation. So like will.i.am said, ain't nobody talking about AI without talking about us.

We're here to make sure
the future is inclusive and vibrant, just like the
communities we come from. Hey Kim, much love to you and the Journal crew for
giving us this platform. I'm out, your girl Felicia is gone. Go ahead and say bye, Felicia. - [Audience] Bye, Felicia. (audience laughing and clapping) - Anyways, yeah, so. - Alright, so tell us a little bit more about building Felicia and
especially with diversity and representation in mind. And when did this idea come to you? Because you've been in the
AI space now for a long time. So when did you start to
realize you had to bring more diversity and
inclusion into the space? - Okay, so Disney does a really good job telling us that intelligence is British. And that's great,
because we speak English. Think about this for a second when it comes to storytelling. There could be a story about France

For some reason in the movie, even Napoleon sounds French, sounds English. There could be a story about Aladdin in the Middle East. And to make him sound magical, he sounds British. The British did an amazing job making us believe that intelligence and like higher knowledge is supposed to sound like this. And when it comes to AI, you're gonna have super corporate librarians. And so that when people aren't going to engage with those agents that come from communities that I come from now, they have to change how they speak. So AI is now gonna sound once again like a different colonial like interpretation. That intelligence does not sound like someone from the Bronx or sound like somebody from Atlanta or vibe and think like someone from the Favelas in Rio de Janeiro or Columbia or Puerto Rico or Dominican Republic. Like why can't they sound and vibe and understand our trials and tribulations? And who is going to program that data?

Like who's programming it to make sure that it understands us? And so it was super important that we built Felicia
from that perspective because who's supposed to build that? Microsoft's supposed to build that? Google's supposed to build that? They supposed to come
in and take all of our, the way that we speak,
and then now that like, no, that shouldn't be that way. We should do that. If intelligence is intelligence, it should come from our communities, and our communities need to
be represented in that space. Like one day, I went to the bathroom, this was like years ago, 10 years ago, I went to the bathroom, washed my hands, and I did like I normally do it. And I looked over to the right of me, and I'm like, the guy was doing like, no, I was doing like this and
this guy did like this. I'm like, how come? Oh wow, the sensor sees
the white of my hands.

So as a black person, I'm have to do this. But a white person goes and does this because the sensor is to see white because the people that programmed that algorithm didn't have
my melanin for the sensor to up my skin in the bathroom. It's called the pale male algorithm. Most people didn't realize that. But if you were paying
attention to data sets and seeing how they interacted, it was like a innocent mistake. They didn't do it maliciously like, Yo, them black people
ain't washing their hands. (audience laughing) That's not what they did. But because of lack of representation when it comes to training
data, we do this. Since then the sensor
has gotten more sensitive to see skin like this. But if that little nuance
that we all ignored and just dealt with it, imagine that in AI you can't have that. You have to make sure that
these systems represent and understand people from the communities

that are gonna be
engaging with these agents and not have to force people
to then change how they speak, how they vibe to talk to
some corporate librarian. And so that's the reason why these Felicia that we are training, building, and deploying are is super important for to have representation. - And are there other
personalities that are also being- - Yeah, so we have, Felicia's, it's just, that's my homegirl. So I take Felicia everywhere, yeah. - [Kim] Okay.
- But every, everything. Hey, can you break down quantum physics right quick for folks
that wanna understand quantum entanglement. (soft music) - [Felicia] Cha, oh, you wanna dive into the deep stuff, like quantum physics and
quantum entanglement? Right, let's break it
down real quick and simple 'cause this topic got folks scratching their heads left and right. Let's get it.

Quantum physics, one basics. It's the study of the smallest particles in the universe like
electrons and photons. These particles don't
act like the big stuff we see every day. They get all wild and unpredictable. Think of it like trying
to predict the moves of a dance crew, but every member is doing their own thing. Two key concepts, super
position is a particle can be in multiple states at once. It's like flipping a coin
and it being both heads and tails at the same
time until you look at it. Wave particle, duality,
particles can act like both- - But I could go into and
go every single sentence and go deeper into it to
understand it even more. And that's what's really
what beautiful about that because in this realm,
education will change. We're gonna move into forever learning. We're gonna move into a a realm where you're going to have an entity that will understand your learning needs

and adapt itself to you. That can break down complex things for you to understand complex things
that your way of learning. - So I'm curious about
how this also applies to the music industry too, and whether or not you've thought deeply about AI extending an artist's life. You know, you've worked
with so many hit makers, including Michael Jackson and Prince. Could AI be trained as
a model to be Michael or to be Prince and to release, you know, unreleased work before? Could we get that there? Especially knowing that you've
worked with those artists and you have a sense of
what they would want. What they would expect. - Yeah, yeah, so. AI and music is fascinating
and amazing beyond. So in 2010 Black Eye Peas did this video where I come into the studio and I show my group some technology, I'll show you to you here. This right here is the future. What you're able to do with that

because of this artificial intelligence. Like when it's time to make a new song, I just type in the lyrics
and then this thing sings it. - [Fergie] Okay, so you're
saying machine can do anything that an artist or a group can do. - Yes. This is what's going to
take the Peas into 3008. This is the future. - [Fergie] Yeah, it's not real, Will. - It is real. - [Fergie] We're not robots. - Nobody's saying robots, all I'm saying... - [Fergie] Seriously. - You're gonna take this totally wrong. You can't say futuristic and
then be afraid of the future. So in 2010, that's kicked off this video that we have called, I'm
Gonna be Rocking That Body. And in 2010 there wasn't
large language models. People didn't really understand

that you could train a system with, you know, frequency of voice and a catalog of mu lots of music for you to be able to type in, and a machine will sing and perform. Now that technology is called Udio. And it's freaking fantastic, amazing technology. Down to like, it's mind blowing what you're able to do with AI and composition. It's gonna be mind blowing what you're gonna be able to do with AI and storytelling. Text-to-video, text-to-script. What does that mean? That means your niece that's eight years old, or your nephew that's 10 years old, by the time they're 25, they will be making Star Wars type content just by speaking into some machine. They create characters, and you're going to stream and dive into their worlds, like you're diving into Disney. Disney is not going to be the only people that make these lush worlds. People, the technology

is given agency to dreamers for folks that have visions and imagination. So in one sense, I'm like, Damn it, this freaking machine can make beats better than me. That's real. But then I'm like, Damn it, this machine's going to allow me to have one idea that can multiply to a thousand ideas. I'm a seeder, I seed. And then I have this amplification tool. You know, it happened before in 1920, in 1914. Imagine you played in the orchestra. Imagine you played in the church and somebody came to you and said, Yo, we want to record you. You were like, What the hell is a recording? What do you mean record me? Yeah, I'm gonna record you. You could hear it later. What you mean hear it later? You gonna hear me at church. You gonna hear me play at the freaking theater later? You couldn't even imagine.

There was no concept of recording to hear it later. And now here we are, and it's changed music forever. And so here we are, you see infinite splinters. So the theater is still important. The person that breathed life into an idea for a system to then multiply it to be experienced in, you know, Hungarian or experienced in Brazilian instantly. I'm limited, I can't sing in all these different languages, but people listen to our music in all these different countries, and they're forced to adopt the language I speak, but that doesn't mean tomorrow. Tomorrow they're going to hear it in Hindi, they'll hear it in Japanese and in Chinese, and I just seeded it. So is that great for me as an ideator? It's the age of the ideator, not yesterday's traditional artists. It's just some a shifting of time. So is there an artist that you can think of currently that you would wanna collaborate

with to bring AI into their music? - No, the artists I wanna collaborate with are the AI programmers
to create AI artists. Why would I wanna work with artists? I wanna make artists. - You wanna create the artists. - If you're gonna, if it's
time to dream, let's dream. Why not dream it? I'm still creating, I'm just creating differently. Imagine. I'm like, What are you doing? Yo, I'm painting this
scenery, look at me. I'll be done in like two weeks though. And I come every day to
paint this beautiful view, and some guy comes with a (beep) camera, and I'm like, Yo, what's that? It's a camera, bro. I just took it instantly. It took you like a week to do that and took me like a snap to do that. That was transformational
to capturing a moment, and now a person with a camera.

Look at these cameras all around here. Imagine you had to paint this (beep) conversation. But that's not what's happening. You captured the conversation. So this means tomorrow's world builders are gonna have visions like they always have. And they're going to materialize them with these tools, and lots of things will spawn because of that. Things that we can't imagine new types of movies. So instead of watching a film and that random character in the back as Batman saves the day and that building blows up and that person, people passed away in that building that exploded by the way. They just don't have the bandwidth to tell you the story of the people in that building. So now you could pause it, move the camera, go to that person that's that extra and be like, Yo, what's the story of this person? I wanna see this movie from this person's perspective. And now the movie and that Batman scene

where he saved the day, that person that was jeopardized
by that building explosion, that movie starts from that point of view. You can't do that yesterday. You could do that with today's technology. And these are the types of world layer building that we are in. If you're just gonna try to do yesterday with today's technology, you're using today's technology wrong. You're supposed to dream up some new. - Alright, well I'm gonna
shift gears a little bit 'cause I think I have time
for one more question. You've been attending
Harvard Business School? - I graduate this year. - Yes, in October, I believe. - Huh? - In October? Do I have that right?
- Yeah, I graduate in October. - Tell us a little bit
about what you've learned on the Harvard campus. What's impressed you the most? Have you've been just talking a lot about AI or other things? - No, so I've noticed

so I've been in the AI space since 2012. Started companies, built solutions. I've noticed that discussions like this are always a year later. So we should have been
talking about AI last year. And so as you experienced
your can this year, it's gonna be surface
layer AI discussions. They're gonna tell you
about the consumer products, but they're not gonna tell you about how to start AI companies or to
truly transform your business and your job into a career with AI as your tool and your hammer. They're probably not gonna talk about how to have a constellation of AI satellites around an individual to make
them a super individual. So at Harvard, I thought we were gonna
talk about AI two years ago. We talked about it briefly last year and once again it was
from a consumer side, and I'm pretty sure
there's gonna be heavy AI discussions this year, but there'll be a year late. They'll be a year behind.

They're probably not gonna talk about cohere. They're not gonna talk about philanthropic. They're not gonna talk about runway. And these are tools that everyone should be aware of. Say, for example, you're a journalist, or you're a marketer, or you're a small company that wants to be a big company, use cohere to supercharge your company with cohere architecture or philanthropic architecture. If you are a marketer and you want to change the way that you make commercials, use runway. If you are a small team that wants to be a big team, use fyi.ai and network, and use a better messenger to organize your digital assets and team flow with AI. I've noticed they don't, at summits like this, they talk about job displacement. They don't tell you where the job displacement is coming from. It's the outside folks. There's some people outside that are like, Hmm, let's use AI to change that.

And that is usually somebody's job. But it's not AI doing that. AI is not like, Yo, we're going (beep) jobs up. (beep) damn. It's somebody out there that's like, Yo, I see some redundancies, I see some inefficiency. Let's try to change that whole department from the perspective of AI because you could do it better. And then some executives like, Yeah, we're gonna do that so we could save money. That same vision, that same type of disruption that's happening from outside to inside is from, can happen from inside to outside. A company could be like, or a person out there can be like, We're gonna start a whole new industry with these tools. And that's what I think summits like this should be leading. Like how are you industry responders not, you know, facilitating, trying to keep yesterday as intact as it used to be.

Nah, bro, you gotta like dream up the new new right now. It's the new new. These are the new, new, the new new crew. - [Kim] Okay. - Bring the new, new crew. That's what I'm, if you are part of the new new crew, that's what's up. We are recruiting new news right about now as you snooze, snooze. (will.i.am laughing)

will.i.am on AI, Creators and the Media Industry | WSJ News

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WSJ News

The disagreement surrounding AI in the creative space is mainly driven by the unfair deals created by creative administrators and executives, not by AI itself.

AI is the most disruptive technology we've ever seen, and it has the potential to give creators more control over their content and advertising, which is currently lacking, especially in platforms like YouTube.

The early days of AI present an opportunity to shift business practices and empower creators to have more control over their work and earnings.

The Impact of the Music Industry on Technology

The music industry has been a pioneer in creating new formats and time constraints for music, such as the standard length of a song and the invention of the 33 RPM record.

am and his co-hosts are advocating for diversity and representation in AI, emphasizing the importance of including all voices and communities in the conversation.

The focus is on fighting biases, providing equal opportunities, and bringing unique perspectives to the forefront of innovation in the tech industry.

Promoting Diversity and Inclusion in AI Through Felicia

Felicia was created to bring diversity and representation into the AI space, challenging the traditional portrayal of intelligence as British.

The creator emphasizes the importance of AI sounding and understanding the experiences of different communities, such as those in the Bronx, Atlanta, Favelas in Rio de Janeiro, Columbia, Puerto Rico, or the Dominican Republic.

The development of Felicia was driven by the need for intelligence in AI to come from and represent a wide range of communities, rather than being shaped solely by big tech companies.

The Importance of Diversity in AI and Quantum Physics Education

The lack of diversity in AI programming can lead to biased algorithms, highlighting the need for representation in tech development.

Quantum physics education is being made more accessible and engaging through diverse and relatable personalities like Felicia.

This approach allows for a deeper understanding and promotes a lifelong learning mindset in education.

AI has the potential to extend an artist's life by being trained to replicate their style and release unreleased work.

In 2010, the Black Eyed Peas introduced Udio, a technology that uses AI for music composition and performance, foreshadowing the future of AI in the industry.

AI is expected to revolutionize storytelling and content creation, allowing individuals to produce high-quality content simply by speaking into a machine, ultimately changing the landscape of entertainment.

The Transformative Power of AI in Music Creation

AI is seen as a tool to amplify and multiply musical ideas, changing the role of artists to "ideators.

" The speaker envisions a future of AI-generated music and expresses a desire to collaborate with AI programmers to create AI artists.

The impact of technology on art is likened to the transformational effect of the camera on painting, emphasizing the shift in creative processes.

Advancements in technology are changing the way stories are told in films, allowing for new perspectives and the exploration of different characters.

The use of technology now enables the audience to experience a story from various viewpoints, shifting the traditional narrative structure.

The speaker has noticed a delay in AI discussions in the business space, with a focus on consumer products rather than on truly transformative AI applications.

The Importance of Cohere, Philanthropic, and Runway in Driving Innovation

Cohere, philanthropic, and Runway are valuable tools for journalists, marketers, and small companies to supercharge their operations.

Job displacement discussed at summits is often driven by the use of AI to improve efficiency and cut costs.

These tools not only cause internal disruptions but also have the potential to create entirely new industries.