Black Eyed Peas frontman sees ’far more shows when AI is at the helm’

Music icon and producer Will.i.am has talked up the value of artificial intelligence to boost the number shows being produced but called for regulation and governance on the technology to protect jobs. 

The Black Eyed Peas frontman, who is the founder and chief exec of AI creative productivity platform FYI, said producers and broadcast would be able to produce “far more shows when AI is at the helm” or “part of your creative team”.  

“For every five shows you do with your human staff, you’re going to make 100 shows when people are augmented with AI,” he told delegates at an Edinburgh International TV Festival session focused on its impact on content creation. 

He caveated that producers and networks to be “super careful to not trip on the ethics”, noting that the AI ethical guardrails are still being determined, preventing government regulation from being imposed. 

“When it comes to AI, it’s self-governed and self-regulated,” he added. “You’ve got to do the right thing to make sure you’re not displacing jobs. I hope networks are mindful of that.” 

Will.i.am dispelled fears the technology could match the emotional nuances of human storytelling, describing it as simply a “regurgitation of human imagination”. 

However, he did say AI would be able to create future series of existing shows, pointing to HBO’s Game of Thrones and Amazon’s The Boys. “Game of Thrones was dope, that was truly creative. But can AI do that now that it exists? Yes.” 

Given the potential for creativity with AI, the artist questioned whether the industry is “truly being creative” in generating fresh ideas and suggested parts of it are beholden to algorithms.  

“Right now with the state we’re in creatively we’re being pimped by an algorithm,” he said. “We’re not truly being creative. We’re chasing views, reposts, likes and numbers. Are we truly being creative?” 

The musician and producer said as the industry continues to use the tech, he forecast it will lead to the creation of a new content platform powered by AI. “Now we have new technology, what are we going to put on it? The dreamers are going to dream that shit up, but they just haven’t started dreaming yet. We’re going to dream the new thing.”