It's not artificial intelligence that scares him, but human greed.

Will.i.am believes the future of music is not about fighting new tools, but finding new ways to create and connect with audiences.

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Photo: Shutterstock
Photo: Shutterstock
Disclaimer: The translations are mostly done through AI translator and might not be 100% accurate.

While many artists warn of the dangers of artificial intelligence in the music industry, Will.i.am sees the new technology as an opportunity to create something completely different. However, the Black Eyed Peas frontman says he is more concerned about human greed than the possibility of robots replacing musicians.

"Now is the time for dreamers, not for those who just repeat yesterday's ideas. A new imagination is needed, because artificial intelligence is not yet capable of true imagination. So we have the opportunity to come up with something completely new," Will.i.am said in an interview with Variety magazine.

The musician, who wrote and produced music for Michael Jackson and Lady Gaga during his career, and launched the FYI.AI app in 2020, says he is not worried about artificial intelligence taking the place of artists.

"Yes, they will make better songs, the same songs or sometimes bad songs. And I sometimes write a bad song that I think is good... Anyway, everything is subjective. What is good and what is bad?" he said.

Speaking about the limitations of artificial intelligence, he pointed out that it does not create anything truly new.

"It has swallowed a huge amount of content. It doesn't know what it's actually making, it's just reproducing what we've already made," he said.

In his opinion, the future of musicians is not in fighting new technologies, but in creating completely new business models.

"We need to discover a new industry based on this technology, not just a publishing, concert or record industry, but a completely new industry," he said.

To explain his position, Will.i.am looked back to the history and invention of the printing press. Before its invention, he said, musical notation could only travel as far as the musician could carry it with him. The printing press didn't destroy music, but allowed it to evolve.

"Without the printing press, we wouldn't have Bach or Beethoven. It opened up space for the emergence of new professions and entire industries, which lasted for centuries," he concluded. MV

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