In the music video for the Black Eyed Peas' 2010 single, Imma Be, will.i.am has an argument with Fergie about AI, after he introduces the band to a machine able to sing and rap any lyrics written for it.
"You're saying," Fergie says, "that machines can do anything that an artist or a group can do?" "Yes," will.i.am replies. "This is what's going to take the Peas into 3008." In what seems like a parable, or preamble, for the mounting battle between AI and human beings in art, music and film, Fergie wonders whether "not going into the studio to sing" will take "the soul" out of the enterprise.
Fourteen years on, will.i.am still thinks not.
For "hypercreatives" like himself, AI is not a creative death knell but a well of opportunity. "I don't run out of ideas," he tells The London Standard in an exclusive interview. "Ideas run out of me." The singer is here to talk about FYI.AI, a productivity tool for creatives which includes newly developed AI voice assistants. One of them, called Fyilicia, will appear as a mentor on The Voice UK this year, where will.i.am has been a judge since 2012. This is a first for an AI robot: the episode will air on October 12.
FYI.AI's offices are based at 180 The Strand, so naturally will.i.am spends a lot of time in London, where his favourite things include window shopping at Harrods and Selfridges (and comparing their range in the menswear department) and the Windsor Suite at Heathrow Airport, of which Liz Truss is also a fan.
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