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I experienced this firsthand during my years at will.i.am’s now-defunct multimedia company, i.amMedia.
Even before that, will.i.am (born William Adams) was ahead of the curve.
What lessons did you learn from your numerous tech ventures that help you work withLGand Qualcomm now?
I call it hard when it’s hard."
Sometimes being naive and audacious, courageous, fearless, you learn a whole bunch through the process.
But I learned a lot.
Everybody that came around to support that.
We innovated; we did things that people weren’t doing.
I learned that sometimes you’re able to be too early.
You want to be right on time you don’t want to be early.
But being second, you get to eat!
You ate that cheese that the first mouse was trying to get.
So I could say right now, I’m right on time.
And so partnerships is what it’s all about, people that validate the vision.
In April we’ll have our academic education partner.
Qualcomm will get even more folks to adopt the solution, with the software on a chip.
So I learned that partnerships make the world go round.
Or ideas accelerating ideas.
And when will.i.am talks about AI and social media, he levels up yet again.
Heneedsyou to know this stuff right now.
Do you see a future where AI plays a role in personalizing the audio experience beyond listening?
We’ve seen Alexa on a speaker but that was like a command, right?
You commanded Alexa to do things.
AI is going to transform a speaker to an awesome banter companion.
You’re going to compare; you’re going to have analytical perspectives.
It’s going to expand people’s critical thinking.
Yeah, it’s going to be awesome.
What inspired you to launch FYI.AI, and how does the partnership with Qualcomm enhance its capabilities for creatives?
Why are we doing that?
Because their friends weren’t on it.
So what good is a messenger service if your contacts aren’t on it?
I’m like, dang it!
And so, it took us from 2020 to 2023 to build all that.
In 2024, we launched our AI dashboard and then we created this feature called Radio.
Andthenwe got a couple of car companies and we got LG.
And so that is going to help us scale.
Whats the difference between responsible usage of AI and exploitative usage?
Exploitative use of AI is social media.
We already have that.
It’s called ‘You don’t own your data’.
Oh my gosh, you’re listening to me like, wait, no?!
They’re predicting you and they’relisteningto you.
Exploitive use of AI is called cookies.
They used some cute little word called cookies.
They might as well just throw the word ‘monster’ on it!
But even that, it’s cute.
Do you want to clear what’s all up in your sh*t?
Real f**ing word for that sht, bro.
And so our practice is to be mindful of people’s data.
We don’t sell your data, it’s yours.
That’s not our business practice.
We are not all up in your stuff.
So we take that very seriously: focus your ideas, these are yours.
I’m like, why is my phone slow?
Everybody does it; press accept.
you’re able to’t even do that.
Yeah like, ‘Hey Siri, who got access to my microphone and my camera?’
Folks sign it as a way to tell people to trust their companies.
And anyone who doesn’t sign it?
You shouldn’t be f***ing with ‘em.
Or, you go to the supermarket and be like ‘Yo, what’s in this package?’
And some people are super conscious about certain food additives.
But look what happened people stood up and now there’s no more Red Dye Number 3.
Red Number 40, that’s out.
It took a while for us to do that, but the information helped.
The public is not aware of just the power of data.
it’s possible for you to’t buy a house with cash.
you could’t be like, Yo, I got a bag full of money.
How much, yo, that house is like 10 million.
Yo, I got 10 million cash right now.
They’d be like, ‘You ain’t buying no house with 10 million cash’.
you’ve got the option to’t do that at least in some places in America.
It makes no sense at all if you think about the power of data and the power of money.
So, here’s a company that has more money than the companies that hold everybody’s money.
That gives you something for free.
That’s the power of data.
And data should be a human right, owning your data.
So power to the people really is people owning data.
And nothing against Meta.
I like Instagram like everybody else.
We all addicted to it; I’m on the toilet longer than I usually was!
Oh, practice makes perfect.
It made me a better entrepreneur.
It’s made me a better hunter for partners.
That’s what school is about.
You went to school, you took a test and you got some things wrong.
And now you know the answer to that.
I was one of those kids, like two plus two with 22.
No bro, that’s four.
Alright, now I know four.
Our time’s up and I have to say goodbye to the whirlwind of a creative.
