Amid the growing presence of artificial intelligence, it’s no secret the music industry has been weary of the application’s influence. However, singer-songwriter Will.i.am doesn’t share the same concerns. He revealed at the Variety Studio presented by Canva at Cannes Lions that he’s leaning into the “whole new renaissance” that AI establishes with music.
“There’s going to be a whole new way to engage with music with AI,” said Will.i.am.
After an influx of refurbished, “fake” tracks featuring artists through the use of AI technology swarmed the internet, many wondered how the application would influence the industry. “Recreation is easy to do,” he said. “I heard one of the best songs that I ever wrote, sung, and recorded that I had never sung, recorded and written, and [AI] did it in 30 seconds.”
He admits that he doesn’t “use AI to write music,” but that he does see the tech being able to “have in-depth reasoning, lyrically.”
“Could it go out and use metaphors, comparisons and summaries on complex concepts to translate for folks to understand?” Will.i.am questioned. “Yes, it could do that. What does that mean for songwriters moving forward? Creators need to think about what we are doing moving forward in a whole new way of storytelling, songwriting.”
He, too, said that he believes AI will be able to write hit tracks like the Black Eyed Pea’s Grammy-award-winning track “Boom Boom Pow.” “The question I ask myself is am I going to write more songs like ‘Where’s the Love?’ or more songs like ‘Boom Boom Pow?’” he started. “Because the AI will make awesome ‘Boom Boom Pow’s.’”
Will.i.am undoubtedly holds insight on the topic as he serves as the CEO and founder of FYI.ai, Focus Your Ideas with AI. “It’s a Web 3.0 AI messenger for creative collaboration for creatives to supercharge themselves with AI, network and collaborate to materialize their ideas in a centralized location,” he shared.
Essentially, the tool acts as a home for users to store large sums of data “all in one place, to supercharge, to be a creative tool for creatives,” said Will.i.am. “AI will render a lot of jobs obsolete, but it also is going to be the spawner of new industries, companies and ideas. To do that, we believe that FYI is a good place, an ecosystem and a community that we want to build to create those ideas for tomorrow.”
