From Black Eyed Peas to AI Pioneer: Will.i.am on Music, Tech & the Future

What this episode is about

Will.i.am, the founding member of the Black Eyed Peas and a tech entrepreneur, discusses the intersection of music and artificial intelligence, emphasizing how AI can serve as a catalyst for human creativity and social empowerment. He explores the potential for AI to enhance artistic expression while encouraging a spiritual evolution in humanity as we navigate technological advancements.

Key takeaways

• AI won't outlove us, but it might push us to redefine what love truly means.
• Authenticity and creativity are currencies no wealth can buy; this is the heart of true empowerment.
• Design your own door instead of waiting for someone to open it; that's the essence of innovation.
• AI can spark a human renaissance, but only if we choose inclusivity and creativity as our guiding stars.
• Growing up between diverse worlds taught Will that imagination is the key to transcending socio-economic divides.

Who speaks in this episode?

• Holla (Host) · 21 min speaking
• Will.i.am (Guest) · 50 min speaking

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 10:00: Artificial Intelligence, FYI.AI, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, electromagnetic spectrum
2. 10:00 – 20:00: future casting, Pinterest
3. 20:00 – 30:00: future casting, Patrick Winston, DeepMind, OpenAI
4. 30:00 – 40:00: FYI.AI, data privacy
5. 40:00 – 50:00: new renaissance, creativity renaissance
6. 50:00 – 1:00:00: Artificial Intelligence, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, AI algorithms, electromagnetic spectrum
7. 1:00:00 – 1:10:00: i.am angel foundation, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, FIRST Robotics, manifestation network
8. 1:10:00 – 1:11:21: FYI.AI, new renaissance, FIRST Robotics

Notable quotes from "From Black Eyed Peas to AI Pioneer: Will.i.am on Music, Tech & the Future"

• AI's job is to be that thing that wakes us up to really truly do what we're supposed to do on this planet, and that is to be loving the whole entire electromagnetic spectrum.

  about Artificial Intelligence · at 0:44

• I like to have plausible future casting and use my intuition.

  about future casting · at 18:16

• Were first exposed to AI and how you believe that AI is going to change the world. First time I heard the concept of AI was in 2005.

  about Patrick Winston · at 24:01

• Importantly, you should own all that data. You shouldn't have to worry about some company freaking selling your identity and your data away. that doesn't sound like 2020 right…

  about data privacy · at 37:39

• Fourth industrial revolution council because of the work that I do in the inner cities bringing inner city kids up to speed on science, technology, engineering, and…

  about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics · at 58:11

• And so that's why I started my foundation. That's why I've invested in companies. And that's why I've, I still make music, but I focused more on my energy as an entrepreneur so.

  about i.am angel foundation · at 1:01:35

• Do you guys have a robotics program at the school? If they don't, that there's a program called First Robotics.

  about FIRST Robotics · at 1:09:34

• Transforming what a messenger is in this new renaissance that we are in now.

  about new renaissance · at 1:11:07

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Patrick Winston — Person · Referenced expert · 2 mentions · first at 24:04
  Will.i.am credits MIT Professor Patrick Winston as his early exposure to AI via attending Winston's AI class starting in 2005.
• Alan Hartstone — Person · Referenced connector · 1 mention · first at 24:22
  Credited with introducing Will.i.am to Patrick Winston at the MIT Media Lab, enabling his early AI learning.
  Winston. Rest in peace. I was introduced to him by a guy by the name of Alan Hartstone in the media lab. And every time I would go to Boston, I would try my hardest to go to Professor Patrick Winston's AI class from 2005, 2006, 2007.
• Britney Spears — Person · Referenced person · 1 mention · first at 5:32
  Mentioned as an artist will.i.am produced for, illustrating his industry reach.
  Latin Grammy award, a daytime Emmy award. You produce songs for superstars like Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, Shakira, John Legend, and your rise to fame, aside from your…
• John Legend — Person · Referenced person · 1 mention · first at 5:34
  Mentioned as an artist will.i.am produced for, supporting his creative authority in the discussion about AI and music.
  Award. You produce songs for superstars like Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, Shakira, John Legend, and your rise to fame, aside from your talent, must have been grit, right?…
• Shakira Mebarak — Person · Referenced person · 1 mention
  Mentioned as an artist will.i.am produced for, reinforcing his cross-genre/global influence.
  Produce songs for superstars like... Shakira...

Companies & orgs

• FYI.AI — Company · Core topic / Guest's company · 3 mentions · first at 0:33
  Will.i.am describes FYI.AI as an AI-enabled creative messaging/collaboration tool with secure file sharing and in-thread AI assistance.
  Tech entrepreneur, creative innovator, futurist, and philanthropist. He's the founder and CEO of FYI.AI, an AI powered productivity tool for creative. And he also does a lot of work for inner city disadvantaged youth to learn STEM.
• i.am angel foundation — Company · Core topic / Guest's philanthropy vehicle · 3 mentions · first at 1:01:35
  He describes the foundation's mission to bring STEM/robotics programs to poverty-stricken and underserved schools and invites donations and direct action.
• FIRST Robotics — Company · Referenced organization · 2 mentions · first at 1:09:40
  Recommended as the program framework to bring robotics teams to schools, with multiple competition tracks by age.
• OpenAI — Company · Referenced company · 2 mentions · first at 27:43
  Cited as a key driver in bringing AI out of an 'AI winter' and popularizing modern generative AI capabilities.
  So, the folks over at OpenAI helped push the field out of AI Winter.
• DeepMind — Company · Referenced company · 2 mentions · first at 28:04
  Cited as part of the small community advancing AI during less popular years; will.i.am mentions meeting founders and seeing their early work.
  People like Demis and Mustafa that the founders of Deep Mind.
• Pinterest — Company · Referenced company · 1 mention · first at 19:29
  Will.i.am mentions investing early in Pinterest, illustrating his startup investing activity.
  Been built. I invested in companies early on, Twitter early on, Pinterest early on, Tesla, Twitter before Elon took over the company as well. And Elon's dope, he's a he's a big inspiration as far as, what's possible business-wise.
• Apple Inc. — Company · Referenced company · 1 mention
  Listed among companies he consulted for, reinforcing his involvement with major tech ecosystems.
• Beats Electronics — Company · Referenced company · 1 mention
  Mentioned as a company he consulted for, connecting his music background to consumer tech.
  Consulting for companies like... Beats...
• Coca-Cola — Company · Referenced company · 1 mention
  Listed among major brands he advised/consulted for, illustrating his business-side creative influence.
• Mercedes-Benz — Company · Referenced company · 1 mention
  Mentioned as a brand he advised, showing breadth of his futurist/creative consulting.
  Consulting for companies like... Mercedes...
• Tesla, Inc. — Company · Referenced company · 1 mention
  Mentioned as an early investment, supporting his identity as a tech investor and futurist.

Concepts & topics

• Artificial Intelligence — Concept · Core topic · 4 mentions · first at 0:44
  Central theme: AI as a transformative force for creativity, work, and society; discussed alongside risks like job displacement and algorithmic bias.
• science, technology, engineering, and mathematics — Concept · Core topic · 4 mentions · first at 0:42
  STEM is positioned as the pathway for underserved communities to participate in and shape the AI-driven economy and reduce bias in systems.
• new renaissance — Concept · Core topic · 4 mentions · first at 23:56
  Will.i.am uses 'new renaissance' to describe an era where small teams plus AI can create outsized impact and reshape creative work and inclusion.
• future casting — Concept · Core topic · 4 mentions · first at 18:03
  He defines future casting as plausible, strategic imagination used to escape poverty, build products, and anticipate technology shifts.
• data privacy — Concept · Core topic · 1 mention · first at 37:39
  He criticizes 'data monarchy' behavior and argues creators should own their data; FYI is positioned as secure with encryption and access controls.
• creativity renaissance — Concept · Core topic · 1 mention · first at 48:20
  He describes a coming shift where human-made, imperfect, improvisational creativity becomes more valued as AI floods culture with optimized content.
  And I think that's going to create a whole new type of humanmade music.
• AI algorithms — Concept · Core topic (technical/ethical) · 1 mention · first at 59:18
  Discussed in relation to training, prompt engineering, and the risk that biased algorithms replicate historical inequities.
  The way that we should the circumstances have led it to where we have this algorithmic biases because we are not programming the algorithms and we're not training the data. So…
• manifestation network — Concept · Core topic (advice) · 1 mention · first at 1:03:00
  His actionable advice: build a supportive network ('manifestation squad') to turn ideas into outcomes and profit/shared benefit.
  Build your manifestation network.
• AI Winters — Concept · Referenced concept · 1 mention · first at 27:37
  He frames the current boom as emerging from an AI winter, crediting organizations like OpenAI and long-term researchers for persistence.
  Yeah. Well, we just got out of AI Winter.
• FIRST Robotics Competition — Concept · Referenced concept/program · 1 mention · first at 1:09:42
  Mentioned as an option within FIRST for older students, part of his call-to-action to sponsor robotics programs.
  They have FRC, FLC. FLC is first Lego League competition. We start as early as 9 years old u building robotics team where kids compete. There's F FRC and FTC first tech challenge first.
• FIRST Tech Challenge — Concept · Referenced concept/program · 1 mention · first at 1:09:55
  Mentioned as another FIRST pathway for middle/high school robotics competition teams.
  9 years old u building robotics team where kids compete. There's F FRC and FTC first tech challenge first robotics challenge. There's all these different from 9year-olds to junior high school to high school kids.
• electromagnetic spectrum — Concept · Referenced concept (metaphor) · 2 mentions · first at 0:50
  Used metaphorically to describe expansive love/connection ('love the whole entire electromagnetic spectrum').
  Us up to really truly do what we're supposed to do on this planet, and that is to be loving the whole entire electromagnetic spectrum.
• quantum theory — Concept · Referenced concept (example) · 1 mention · first at 50:42
  Used as an example of how AI could rapidly generate sophisticated lyrics on complex topics with metaphor and depth.
  Best lyricist? Jay-Z or the AI Jay-Z, which one's gonna be better? yo, human Jay-Z, write me a verse on quantum theory from the perspective of living in the hood. Well, Jay-Z has to do some research on quantum mechanics to.

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 Did the guy tell you if AI is going to out love us? No. Right. It's all like mathematical capitalism worries. And if that day comes where AI is going to be smarter than us, maybe that's when human beings become something that we've been waiting to become and that is this spiritual creature that evolves spiritually to out love anything on earth cuz AI is not going to do that.

0:23 Will I am founder and lead member of the Black Eyed Peas holding seven Grammys under his belt. an experienced tech entrepreneur, creative innovator, futurist, and philanthropist. He's the founder and CEO of FYI.AI, an AI powered productivity tool for creative. And he also does a lot of work for inner city disadvantaged youth to learn STEM skills.

0:44 AI's job is to be that thing that wakes us up to really truly do what we're supposed to do on this planet, and that is to be loving the whole entire electromagnetic spectrum.

0:54 You're trying to make as much humanmade music as possible. So, talk to us about the way that music is going to change from AI and creators in general are going to have to adapt to AI in the future. Hey, Yap fam. One of the things I love most about doing this show is sitting down with visionaries who can see the future before the rest of us and then build it. In this Yap Classic episode, we're revisiting my conversation with one of the most creative minds on the planet, Willam. You know him as the seventime Grammy award-winning founder of the Blackeyed Peas. But he's so much more than a music legend. He's a futurist, technologist, and founder of FYI, an AI powered platform transforming how creators collaborate. In this conversation, Willam shares how he used his imagination to escape the projects of East LA, why creativity is the new currency, and how AI can become a tool for empowerment, inclusion, and a new

1:47 human renaissance. So yeah, fam, I want you to get ready to see creativity and technology in a whole new light. Without further ado, I give you the one and only Will I Am. Will, welcome to Young and Profiting Podcast.

2:01 Nice to meet you, Holla. Thanks for having me. I'm super excited. I don't often get a chance to speak with legendary artists like you. So, I'm really happy to have you on the show. And I want to get into so many topics from how you rose to fame in your career to AI and the impact it has on creators as well as your experience as an entrepreneur and a futurist. But first, I'd love to get a little bit of information about your past. You grew up in LA, a single mother, and in high school you were voted most likely to succeed. So tell us in your own words. [clears throat]

2:34 In high school I was voted space cadet. Space cadet. Yeah. Yeah, they thought it was weird. Whatever.

2:42 Oh, it's all good though. [snorts] Well, what was Will I Am like then in your own words? Young Will I Am.

2:50 Um, I grew up in an all Mexican neighborhood. Uh, went to a predominantly white school and in a really rich neighborhood and I went to all black church. So that kind of like upbringing of you different ethnicities, diversity, you know, capital differentiation, you know, the halves and the have nots. I realized, you know, what I possessed was something that was sought after that money couldn't buy. that was, [clears throat] you know, authenticity, creativity imagination and no matter which pocket I was rocking in, whether it was my neighborhood in East LA, which is poor, predominately Mexico to Palisades and Brentwood and Par where the rich uh white folks are at, or [clears throat] the soulful black church, the creativity and the imagination, that was my currency. That's what separated me from,

3:56 you know, the herds. And I loved it. I loved being in that diverse mix. [snorts]

4:02 And at what point in your childhood or teenage years did you [clears throat] first get interested in music?

4:08 I mean, people always say like, you know, I was into music ever since I was little. Like for real, like I was into music ever since I was nine. I could say nine. Nine years old was when I realized I really loved it. 13 is when I started writing my own songs. By 15, this is what I wanted to do for a living. By 17, I had a record deal. I had a record contract at 17. I was in the

4:36 just just hopped into the 11th grade. It was a big deal going to school. when I came to school with my my record contract and my check like look I got a record deal with Easy E Ruthless Records NWA what? So my neighborhood was like, "Fucking Willie Dog, you sign with Easy E-H Homes." And so that was beautiful. You know, when your neighborhood is proud.

4:58 And then all my friends, my white friends in school were like, "Oh my gosh, William, you got a record deal. That's so freaking cool." And so that was cool. You know, my friends at church were like, "Dang, Will, that's freaking dope." I had like, you know, a lot of support and acknowledgement and, you know, everyone was proud of that accomplishment at 17. So that went a long way. H that's incredible. And your music career has been absolutely epic. You've gotten seven Grammy awards, a Latin Grammy award, a daytime Emmy award. You produce songs for superstars like Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, Shakira, John Legend, and your rise to fame, aside from your talent, must have been grit, right? So I'm curious to understand the motivation behind your career and all that you've achieved.

5:46 Well, rise to fame, that's just like the results of relentless push. Go get it. You know, a door is closed, you design a new door. Like a lot of times people think when the doors closed, you wait for another door to open. You actually are supposed to design a new door,

6:12 you know. [clears throat] And it's once again it's that creativity is your currency where [clears throat] you have to make the opportunities. You don't wait for opportunities. And the rise to fame is the result of that type of like manifesting dreams,

6:30 you know, because people would rather see you fail as entertainment when watching people fail is entertainment. that you have that working against any dreamer was when the world wants to see you fall.

6:46 Um or when you're when there's so many setbacks in your community, there's so many setbacks in society as a whole, you know, trip wires, peer pressure, partake in these promiscuous activities. All those types of things are like recipes for your dream to be compromised. If you want to be the author of your success or you know be lucky that you have success, which one you want?

7:13 Luck is like a gamble. Author of success is sacrifice, dedication, and focus. Hustle, networking, go go go and selecting who your support system is.

7:28 Because a lot of times [clears throat] like the nightmare could creep. And the nightmare are basic things like I got to pay my bills. The nightmare is like, you know, I got I got to get a job. That's a nightmare to a dream because not a job is not necessarily the vehicle to manifest your dream. Sometimes a job is the vehicle to destroy your dream.

7:54 Mhm. Like when you're working at a job, you're actually working to help somebody else's dream real. Mhm.

8:02 All right. And or you could have a dream and really put strategy behind that dream and then there's people that going to want to work with you to make your dream real. Like which one do you want?

8:15 Mhm. You know, and I wanted to be in the vehicle of manifesting my dream. To do that, you need a support system. You have to put yourself in a situation to where getting a job is the trip wire to manifest your dream.

8:33 But for a lot of for a lot of folks it is. Yep. And so, you know, my my uh my journey is because of people that really helped me not have to take that route. you know, my mom, my ex-girlfriend, her family, because that could really [ __ ] your dream up.

9:00 Yep. When you're out there like something's going to take your energy. Mhm. And so I always invested my energy in the dream. A lot of times I, you know, your personal life sacrifices cuz, you know, you put

9:13 you put all your your your energy in the dream. Yeah. So that that rise to fame. I don't like that word fame. because that's like you're doing it for the wrong reasons. My reasons were like I just want to take care of my family.

9:27 I want to be able to support, provide. I want to be able to always have the ability to have an idea and manifest that idea.

9:37 Yeah. Now, you really won the the hearts of the American people, especially with Black Eyed Peas. And there's so many artists, especially today now that, you know, you can release music independently, digitally. So why do you think that you made it compared to so many artists who go unnoticed?

9:56 Sacrifice, focus, reaching, not settling for immediate success, always reaching for like broader success,

10:07 like, hey, my neighborhood's dope. I want to I want to I want to have popularity in my neighborhood, but I also want to go to that neighborhood over there.

10:16 Yo, [clears throat] I want to rock this crowd over here at this college. at USC, but I also want to rock UCLA. I want to rock UCLA, but I also want to go to Northridge. I want to rock Northridge. I also want to go to to Dominguez Hills. Yo, imagine we play San Diego. Like, we've been rocking LA. How about we go to San Diego State and UCSD? Yo, imagine we go to freaking Santa Barbara College. And so that mentality of growth, growth, growth, growth, new new neighborhoods, new like locations, new fan bases, that that kept us hungry. And a lot of times when you do that, you have the truest and the purest that are like, "Yo, man, like y'all ain't underground no more." Like, "Who said I want to stay underground?"

11:08 Like, at one point in time, Black Ops were a underground group. And there's a rap that I wrote when we were uh before we released our first record. And there's two songs. One is called Joints and Jams. And the lyric on Joints and Jam says, "We're about mass appeal, no segregation. Got black to Asian and Caucasian saying that's the joint, that's the jam." And that was always the mission. H

11:36 there's another song that says, "Yo, my man, I got a plan to do it all. I got a plan that none of y'all ever thought about cuz underground [ __ ] don't be thinking on going continental like Lincoln. How can you make moves when you always trapped under? I'm trying to reach the surface to learn more about the thunder. I wonder what really makes the world go round, not thugs, cuz thugs go around to bring other brothers down to be in it for a quick blink. But when you start to sink, you'll be deeper than you was when you should have stopped to think about your consequence. Your axes don't make lot of sense. Brothers choose a wicked life because of lack of confidence. The devil jack you for your sins. Now you can pay the rent and that's no accident. You let it slip. So it went. That that whole mentality of like staying on this like conscious path to reach as many people as possible has always been

12:24 our mission. Yeah. From the jump. Like yo, imagine going to Brazil, bro. Not just Rio but Cudachiba, Bellisone, you know, Portolea, Fort Liza, Fortnis, you know, Brazilia, Sao Paulo, Bayia, like let's go to all the places like imagine going to France and not just going to Paris, but to go to Leon and Marseilles, you know, and you know, perp let's go to the places that people don't normally go Like we wanted like you imagine going to Southeast Asia, not just Japan, but let's go to, you know, Philippines and Guam and Laos and Malaysia and Singapore and Cambodia and Indonesia. Let's go to places people don't go.

13:17 And so that's always been Black IP's. Yo, let's go to Paraguay and Uruguay. People like music out there.

13:25 Let's go to like Nicaragua. Let's go to Guatemala. Let's go to freaking, you know, Costa Rica, Chile. Let's go to Peru. Let's go to the world. Let's go to Kazakhstan and freaking, you know, Lithuania and Estonia. Let's go to Georgia.

13:45 Mhm. Not Georgia. Atlanta. Yeah. Let's go to Atlanta, Georgia. But let's go to Georgia. Right below Russia near Armenia. Let's go to places.

13:54 Yeah. That's always been our whole like Black IP. We tour more outside America than we toured America. Like America was like,

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16:02 while supplies last. That's me tbuty.com promo code EA profiting meritbeauty.com promo code EA profiting and I know with your music also with your messaging it was a lot about unity and love and the group itself when when Fergie was in it as well was very diverse and that was really different at the time. So I'd love to understand like in terms of the the messaging what were your I guess thoughts around that or or was that just organic? We're just LA. That's just a, you know, what LA looks like.

16:37 LA's Filipino, a little bit of native Mexican, a little bit of black, a little bit of Korean, a little bit of like, you know, Persian, a little bit of freaking Armenian. LA is like a melting pot. Um, and Black IP represents that melting pot,

16:57 you know? Yeah. white girls that hung out with cholos, [clears throat] black girls that hung out with freaking, you know, Korean folk, you know, like that's LA.

17:09 Yeah. So, your accolades don't stop with music. You're an entrepreneur. You're a founder and CEO. You're a philanthropist. And so, I want to get into your philanthropy hopefully later in the interview if we have time. First, I want to talk about your role in business and entrepreneurship. So, I know that you're a futurist and you've been a creative adviser to many major companies. Why do you call yourself a futurist and how do you see the future more clearly than others?

17:36 I'm a futurist. I was a futurist when I was in the projects. Because to get out the projects, you have to have a future mindset. M

17:46 um you have to be able to have a plausible path out of a circumstance that has been set up for you to fail and and that type of dreaming and strategy behind the dream to manifest that dream to reality. That's future casting. It's it's one thing from like I'm not into dreaming and I'm not into wishing.

18:16 I like to have plausible future casting and use my intuition. M you know um play on intuition and intuition like you follow your intuition on where you think things can go by after you've sponged up the world and used your imagination to imagine what is going to come next.

18:45 And so applying that same type of, you know, world building that got me out of the world I was born in. Um, I I have applied that to not only the Black IPs, I applied that to, you know, me consulting for companies like Intel, um CocaCola Beats, Apple Mercedes and, uh, you know, startups and things like that. So, really, really, really happy with how things have turned out and the network that has been built. You know, I invested in companies early on, Twitter early on, um Pinterest early on, Tesla, Twitter before Elon took over the company as well. And Elon's dope, you know, he's a he's a big inspiration as far as, you know, what's possible business-wise where individuals can create companies and compete with giant companies. That's that's dope. And I like I like going out and finding teams, investing in teams. I like trying to solve problems, funding those solutions and creating companies

19:56 and then going out and raising money. Um, that journey is is probably the most creative journey for any creative to do. It's like, hey, let's apply our our our minds and our imagination to solve this problem.

20:11 And if we solve that problem, let's see if there's a company that we can create from solving that problem. And what is it going to take for us to you know materialize that in the form of a company? Are we going to use our own money? Are we going to go out and raise money? Who do we need in our fold to, you know, operationalize these creative uh workshops of

20:35 identifying [clears throat] a problem, solving that problem, turning that problem into a product, funding that product, creating a company, right? That to me is is the most create creative um type of workshopping in the in in the whole world of creativity doing that. [clears throat]

20:56 That's such an interesting perspective. I've never really heard it that way. Um while we're on the topic of you being a futurist, what's the most futuristic thing that you've ever done?

21:06 I've done some pretty You have played your music on Mars. I know that. Yeah, that that was uh that was dope. That was a really cool collaboration with NASA to send a song on uh Curiosity to Mars and beaming back to Earth. That was that was dope. Um, and it inspired our students to see what's possible as far as like inner city kids being in and around science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and showing them that we too can be a part of space exploration and engineering and showing them what's possible. Because a lot of times when you when you watch these documentaries or these movies about um space exploration, a lot of times the folks that look like us that were involved are very rarely celebrated.

21:59 Um and the one and there's lots of folks that look like us that are that have been behind the scenes doing awesome work. And um I salute those astronauts like not astronauts, afrons. like the astronauts.

22:13 Yeah. And um yeah, urban nights that are out there exploring space and that was really cool. So other other futuristic things that I've done, um I it's not futurist as far as like your typical concept of futurism, but going back to my neighborhood and starting a robotics program and computer science program is is was a futurist um endeavor. And I started with 65 kids and now we have about um just a little over 13,000 students in LA.

22:51 Amazing. um um in robotics and and technology and computer science and engineering. That's future that's future casting. You're applying yourself identifying a problem and and trying your hardest to solve that problem. M

23:08 um other futuristic things I did was back in 2012, we built a watch that had uh we we forked Android, created our own operating system, put our own chipset, um a mobile chipset, uh Snapdragon chipset onto the wrist, wrapped the battery around the wrist, had a camera on the uh on the device in 200 2. So in 201213 um that not many watches that were doing that. So that was futuristic future casting. Yeah.

23:48 Yeah. And in terms of the future, something that's going to impact us so much and that's the biggest trend that everybody wants to talk about right now is AI, right? So you call AI the new renaissance. Talk to us about when you were first exposed to AI and how you believe that AI is going to change the world. First time I heard the concept of AI was in 2005.

24:11 Um, and I met this amazing professor at MIT. His name is Professor Patrick Winston. Rest in peace. Um, I was introduced to him by a guy by the name of Alan Hartstone um, in the media lab. And every time I would go to Boston, I would try my hardest to go to Professor Patrick Winston's AI class from 2005, 2006, 2007 and, you know, just learn um and I was inspired by the field and a lot of the AI works and research that was happening in the not so popular side of culture because nobody was really checking for AI.

24:53 Yeah. back then in popular culture. Um, and in 2009, Black Peas did this video called I'mma be rocking that body.

25:03 And if you Google it, type in I'mma be rocking that body. There's a 10-minute video. The intro of that video has me coming to my best friend's Black IPs and saying, "Yo, this right here is the future. black IPs. What's going to take us to 3008 is this AI are we're going to, you know, invest in allowing our our ideas to always be able to make songs in the future. In 2008, the AIS that we program and train by ingesting all this information are the whole entire vocal uh English language and our timbers, my high notes, my low notes, right? The whole concept of how to train and prompt engineer

25:44 is in this video in 2009. Wow. I'm gonna try to get the audio and play it in the outro.

25:51 Yeah. Yeah. Do do the whole thing. Get the audio and the visual. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So, I' I've been in AI for for a while. And so that watch that I told you that we made in 2013 12 and 13 was u a voice um contextual voice conversational OS.

26:10 Mhm. So we were doing conversational computing back in 2013 14 15 on a product that we had on our wrist but it was too early. It was early um that type of future casting and I learned about um you know the future the potentials when I was uh sitting in the futurist department at Intel and a watch like you know hey let's reimagine what a watch is and if you have small real estate on your wrist you should be able to speak to it rather than type and swipe. So that's the reason why we entered into voice computing back in 2013 for sorry 2012 is when we started building it.

26:48 2013 when we had our first prototype 2014 is when we launched it. Took us about 2 years to materialize.

26:55 Um and we had an AI a conversational contextual voice operating system on the on the device. Um, and ever since then, I just been investing in AI teams, um solutions. I invested in a bunch of the a handful of the companies that are popular today. Um, I invested in in early stages of these companies that we know of.

27:23 I never realized that you were so involved in AI for such a long time. And it's like such cool information to learn because everybody thinks of you a lot mostly for your music career, but it's so cool to learn all these other things that you you've been doing.

27:37 Yeah. Well, you know, we just got out of AI Winter. So, the folks over at OpenAI helped push the field out of AI

27:49 Winter. So, there's been people that have been working in AI for years. That's how that's how, you know, we've gotten to this place of, you know, awesome sauce.

28:01 You know, people like Demis and Mustafa that that um the founders of Deep Mind.

28:08 Mhm. So, uh there's an amazing firm called Horizon Ventures. So the AI company that I started back in 201213 we had the same investors and I was in I was introduced to Dimis and Mustafa more important more like connected to Demis back in 2013 and 14 um um seeing the work that that DeepMind was doing back then um and it's it's a small community of folks that are working on these on these technologies And uh yeah, so it's it's an awesome community from all the way from you know

28:51 Dario at Enthropic uh the original architect for GPT1 2 and three um and Sam Alman and the Chad GPT Cats to you know Mustafa and Inflection Reed Hoffman to Clen and the hugging face crew to the runway cats The Mid Journey. Wow. The Mid Journey, folks. That's amazing. Mid Journey is like what? What? You know how big the Mid Journey team is? It ain't even that big. The what? Like, yo, redefining like yo, small teams doing awesome stuff. And Runway is dope, too. Runway is really, really dope. Inflection is really, really fresh. You know, there's a lot of cool stuff that's coming. There's there's new companies working on new cool things. FYI, we're trying our hardest to to to push the the boundaries on what like creative messaging is like

29:52 web 3.0 creative enterprise. What is that? Creators have never had, you know, a messaging tool made for them where you could send big files on the messenger, open big files on the messenger, secure big files with elliptical curve cryptography methodologies,

30:11 you know, uh have AI in the conversation with you and your team in a very safe, trusted way like you know, you know, we're really trying to champion like communication and a creative renaissance. response and transforming the messenger.

30:28 Yeah. Um, so yeah, FYI.AI is like we're really rocking. Inspired by the midjourney team to stay lean and small, focus, build, and uh solve problems to help creators be better creatives and supercharge them with awesome tools.

30:47 Let's let's stick on that for a minute. I was talking to Lee a while ago when we first were talking about having you on the show. uh she's part of your team and she was telling me how during COVID you suddenly had to work from home and you were kind of driven mad like how am I supposed to use all the this this is really hard to work from home and you realized there were so many problems when it came to musicians and creators trying to create music when they had to work from home. So talk to us about the problems that you saw.

31:18 Yeah. So before co you know the world was the world you know we we took for granted how we used to do things. We went to work and we took for granted how awesome going to work was.

31:35 Mhm. Um we went home and we took for granted how awesome you know a peaceful home was. And then all of a sudden the world stopped and we were working from home. And we realized that the home environment that we thought was home needed to have a little bit more love cuz people didn't really appreciate their home and they really didn't appreciate the work. CO allowed me to like being home allowed me to really look deep in myself, what my purpose is and I started looking at the tools that I use to communicate

32:16 or that were given to me to communicate and at co during co it's like the messenger was and Zoom came out of nowhere like nobody was talking about Zoom before CO like you barely Skyped during co

32:35 and Zoom just zoomed past like Skype. Like poor Skype. Poor Skype. Zoom just came out of nowhere. And the creatives were continuing to rock on WhatsApp and iMessage. And to do that, you needed a Dropbox and a Wii transfer. And I'm like, wait, my conversations are on the messenger and email sometimes because this file is super large. So they have to send it on a Wii transfer and I have to open it as a zip on my laptop because I can't open it from my phone on a messenger like but the comments are some comments are on the Dropbox or some comments and replies are on the email like where did they where did where was that note was the note on the me like this [ __ ] is all over the place and that was like the majority of 2020 for my field I'm like wow I I want to solve this just for me.

33:29 Mhm. And the people that I collaborate with, like this is there has to be a better way to work off the phone or tablet. And email is like old school. I don't like email. Email is like this old clunky where what's the conversation flow? Like this [ __ ] is all over the place. People are sending long texts but short emails. Like this [ __ ] is broken. Texts were always supposed to be short. That's why they called them SMS for short messages. But people are sending long messages on text, but short emails like yes, hello, no. Like, and I'm getting all these like CC's of just like yes and nos on email. This is broken.

34:10 So I was like, let me let me let me find some awesome engineers and try to have like the singular interface of a communication collaboration digital asset management workplace in the form of a messenger

34:24 where I could send large files where I could, you know, collaborate better and have a better track of who said what when they said what. um awesome ledgers where I could send things and remove access to the encryption key to where now you don't have access to that folder or that file anymore. I could block it to where you can't take a screenshot or screen record. I can assign Face ID. The only person that could see this is this face and this face only. I that's what a messenger should be like in 2020 right now where people and teams can interact with intelligence all on a group thread where it's generative AI and awesome talent all on the same conversation flow like you know if you're stuck and you need extra strategic counsel it's you know an AI away you could just evoke strategy from any place on the on the messenger. Yes, that's what a AI that's what a messenger should sound like in 2020

35:36 right now. And so we started building that. We had that vision back in 2020 20 materialized in 2021 the backend the backend to allow you to call from the content. Right now right now in any messenger I send you something and then I'll be like yo yo you did you see what I sent you? You'd be like, "Yeah, okay. Check it out and call me back." That's the flow right now.

36:02 Or let's hop on this Zoom. Hey, hold on. I'm going share my screen. And then after you share your screen, you're like, "Yo, yo, yo, can you send me a email of what you shared?"

36:11 Mhm. Or, "Hey, did you uh did you open up that text I sent you with that file? Look at it and call me back." That's the flow right now. On FYI, it's like, yo, I'mma call you from this piece of content. I'mma call you from this file so that when you see my phone call ringing, you know what I'm talk calling you for. I'm calling you about this file. So, you could even preview it before you answer the phone and then you know the context of what I'm calling about. And then if I share this project with you or you know because FYI is project based

36:50 um you don't have to ask me for that file later. If I wanted you to keep it allow you to keep it. If I wanted to remove it I remove access. I turn the key off. You don't have access to that. And then you have to call like hey that project you shared can you give me access to see that? So those types of like turning off and on keys to remove or give you access to files that are dear to me giving me the ability to protect those files that I that I'm you know that are precious to me whether the files are docs or songs or videos or uh PDFs or projects or you know contracts whatever those files are that are precious to your dream and materializing those dreams you should have all the tools to secure those files. And more importantly, you should own all that data. You shouldn't have to worry about some company freaking selling your identity and your data away. Like, that doesn't sound like 2020 right now. That

37:51 sounds like some freaking greedy ass data monarchy companies that are taking advantage of people, their communities, and their civil liberties. No, that's not creative. Creativity is always like collaborative. Creativity is always like, hey, this is about the community. Creativity is always about harmony and, you know, being in sync and making sure you you you make sense of the noise. That's music. That's art,

38:24 you know. And that that's that's how we want it. That's how we're building FYI from those principles. Hello, my young and profiters. I know most of us, if not all, have been in a situation where you open your closet and you suddenly feel like you have nothing to wear. That stress is real, and it happens to me, especially when I have a big speaking engagement or a major interview and I need an outfit that makes me feel confident and great about myself. And that's why I love Revolve. It's my go-to for every occasion. I'm wearing Revolve right now, this new brand I found called Loba, and I absolutely love it. With over,200 brands and 100,000 styles, they've got everything from elevated basics to statement pieces. Plus, they drop new arrivals daily. And the curated edits make finding outfits easy and fun.

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39:42 Hey, young and profits. We talk a lot about protecting our businesses. But let's talk about protecting ourselves. These days, we share so much information online and people don't realize that data brokers collect and sell our personal information. your phone number, your home address, even your family details can be listed out for anybody to buy. That's how risks like stalking or identity theft happen. That's why I trust and recommend Delete Me. Delete Me is something that I've personally used for many years now, and it's a service that helps me remove my private data from hundreds of data broker websites.

40:13 Their privacy experts keep an eye out on these sites to see if anything pops up new, and they take care of removals for me all year long. After I signed up, I got my first privacy report within a week. And seeing how many sites they took my information off of was eyeopening. And so I'm so happy that those are now removed. It gives me a real peace of mind. Get 20% off delete me consumer plans when you go to joindeleteme.com/profiting and use promo code profiting p r o fi t i n g at checkout. That's jointdeme.com/profiting with code profiting at checkout for 20% off your consumer plan. Yeah, FYI sounds super cool. And it is it just for musicians right now or is it for because I could see it being used for podcasts for YouTubers?

40:55 Yeah, so podcasts, YouTubers, vloggers, bloggers musicians storytellers book writers, tutors teachers students. Yeah, it's a it's a it's a collaboration networking communication tool um for for this era, for this age, for this new renaissance.

41:20 And is there a way for people to try it for free? Oh, right now, FYI, it's for free. So, we're on iOS, we're on Android, we're about to release our desktop and our tablet. Yeah. Like really soon.

41:32 Awesome. Um Yeah. and adding awesome features by the end of the year. So [clears throat] yeah, it's really really really awesome and and the team is is strong and small, tiny but mighty inspired by the midjourney. Those guys are when I heard how how awesome itty bitty but amazing their their team was, it just goes to show like startups can do amazing things um with awesome talent and uh no matter how different they are from, you know, the juggernauts, the giants of yester, you know, these small speedboats that

42:12 can also pull megat tons when it comes to the architecture and the vision. And um that's that's what's awesome about the age, this renaissance, because a team of four is now now has the power of the team of 200.

42:28 Mhm. Um Yeah. And and what does that mean? Somebody could be like, "Yeah, but that's putting a lot of folks out of jobs." And I and my argument with these four that I'm talking about never got considered in the workplace to begin with. There's a part of culture that no one really paid attention to when it came to equality and diversifying. They never went to the inner cities and brought them up to speed on the new technological advances. So when it comes to, you know, jobs that will be obliterated because of AI, that's unfortunate.

43:09 That happens in every industry shift from the you know the third industrial revolution from second to third a lot of jobs are rendered obsolete. So if you were a candlestick maker or your family made lanterns for hundreds of years and then the light bulb came and electricity came those jobs were rendered uh not obsolete but they were reduced. Candles are still made still to this day, but that's not the only type of illumination.

43:44 You know, candle lanterns are still, you know, used, but that's not the only, right? You got LED LEDs. They don't even they're not even hot.

43:54 You can hold LED like that. You ain't burning your hand like it was in the 80s where you touched a light bulb and freaking melted your fingertips. uh um you know evolution technological evolution has you know enriched our lives.

44:12 Mhm. And now this new technological evolution going from the third industrial revolution to the fourth industrial revolution. Unfortunately like the second to the third lots of jobs will go but new jobs will grow.

44:27 Mhm. Who's going to create those new jobs? I think those jobs that are going to be created, those industries that are going to be unearthed are going to come from folks whose problems were always ignored,

44:41 right? People that are that come from underserved communities. Um, those underserved communities, no one really ever looked for the server in the first place and held that person accountable. No one ever held the underdeveloper that was responsible for the underdeveloped community. When you say underdeveloped community, there is a developer on the other end of that sentence. But no one was ever like, "Yo, who is this developer in the first damn place that's responsible for this underdeveloped community?" And now for the first time in in these people's lives, and I'm one of those people because I come from those types of communities, we now have tools where we could solve our problems ourselves.

45:30 We could serve ourselves with these tools. We could develop our communities ourselves with these tools and identify these problems that have always been, you know, affecting us. And when you solve those problems, new jobs, new careers will be in society. And that's why I'm super optimistic is because it's going to do two things. It's going to, you know, supercharge imaginative, creative folks that have always lived in those circumstances to finally solve those problems themselves. And by doing that, they are tomorrow's entrepreneurs.

46:06 They are tomorrow's industry leaders and trailblazers that will unearth tomorrow's jobs, workforces. Um, yeah, [clears throat] it's awesome. Awesome times. New renaissance.

46:19 Totally. And it's super inspiring what you're saying and all the work that you've done in these underserved communities to teach them about STEM and give them opportunities to learn about robotics and all the education that you do. You were just talking about how industries are going to change and I know that you've said something along the lines of right now you're trying to make as much humanmade music as possible. So talk to us about the way that music is going to change from AI and creators in general are going to have to adapt to AI in the future.

46:50 All right. There's two things happening. Not just two things. That's very like vague thing to say. But there's two trends that I see happening in culture and that is like music that is uh hyper sensitive to Tik Tok algorithms like yo let's get let's get these Tik Toks out there

47:17 and making songs for Tik Tok has reduced the attention span of a song. That's cool. It is what it is. It is what it is. It's it's dope. There's a lot of people having fun to it and creating and having, you know, having some joyful moments and that's great. That's what music is all about. When you are have been reduced to make content for an algorithm in the age where a machine understands the algorithm more than you, the person, then who's going to create better Tik Toks? People or AIs? AIS will out produce Tik Toks than humans will because we are guessing what the algorithm is going to do while the AI will know exactly the algorithms and have more context on how people are going to respond to those algorithms.

48:12 So [clears throat] that's a that's a concern, right? Mhm. Um and I think that's going to create a whole new type of humanmade music. Like you know you go to the supermarket be like yo where's the organic can you show me to the organic vegetable section organic fruits and when you go to those organic stations in the supermarket uh organic fruit don't look as good as like the non-organic fruit like whatever look good means.

48:44 Mhm. Um, maybe the organic fruit has like some bruises on it, but damn, that freaking organic banana is amazing, you know, and it tastes great. May not look as, you know, filtered pretty as the one sitting there for the past 3 weeks and hasn't gotten old yet.

49:03 Mhm. Right. But damn, that organic banana tastes delicious. And I think we're going to have that like this is organic humanmade music

49:14 and people are going to want to go to lives live shows to see people really playing instruments.

49:21 See people truly improvising like yo yo you just made that up right now? Yeah, bro. I just made this up right the [ __ ] now. Right now. You didn't write that? Nah, bro. Just right [ __ ] now, bro. Just right now. Just right now. Get the [ __ ] out of here right now, [ __ ] Didn't I just say right now five times, right? So, people are going to appreciate improv cuz who the [ __ ] is truly improving right now? Everything is so scripted, so filtered, so almost robotic, right? And that's nothing wrong with robotic. I've done some robotic [ __ ] in my life,

50:01 but I see a curve. I see this humanism around the corner. M and some other folks like, "Yo, ain't you ain't you nervous about AI in the creative space, Will?" I'm like, "Nah, no." They're like, "Why, bro? It could like it's going to make awesome beats." Yeah, damn right. AI is going to make some [ __ ] sick ass beats.

50:24 It's going to make some [ __ ] dope ass lyrics. Yo, damn right, bro. AI is going to make some dope ass lyrics to the point where you're like, "Yo, who's the best lyricist? Jay-Z or the AI Jay-Z,

50:38 which one's gonna be better? Like, yo, human Jay-Z, write me write me a verse on quantum theory from the perspective of living in the hood. Well, Jay-Z has to do some research on quantum mechanics to write that. the AIJZ would do that immediately like in-depth deep metaphorical you know concepts that it's going to take somebody to be an expert at that field to really truly write songs about you know synthetic biology from the perspective of somebody living in Compton or somebody playing basketball using metaphors on synthetic and really truly hitting every point like AI is going to be able to do that

51:25 and that's dope And it's going to push human human literature even further, right? That's dope, too, right? But here's why I don't really give a [ __ ] because if AIA was to do yoga, is it going to do yoga better than me? And if it does, who [ __ ] cares? Because I need to do yoga. And I cannot pass off certain tasks to an AI when I need to do that for my own spiritual, physical growth. I need to do yoga. I need to stretch. I need to stretch my mind. I need to stretch my soul. I need to stretch my body. And there's certain things AI is not going to do for me.

52:08 I don't give a [ __ ] how awesome AI, you could program it to do synthetic simulations of [ __ ] It's not going to [ __ ] for me. It could [ __ ] [ __ ] in in two seconds. I cannot be like, "Yo, yo, uh, chat GPT, I need you to take a [ __ ] for me." It's not going to do that [ __ ] There's certain [ __ ] I got to do on my [ __ ] own.

52:30 And creating is one of those [ __ ] things. I have to do it. It's therapeutic. So whether or not you like it better than my [ __ ] I don't really care because there's going to be some people that like mines better than the AI, right? Because what what is good, what is bad is relative. And I believe that people are going to be sick and tired of perfect.

52:56 People are going to get tired of like exactly pixel perfect. We are overfiltered. We are over, you know, uh, choreographed. There's only so many moves we could do at the same time. And I think true raw expression emotion that lets out what's inside, trapped inside, however you have to sing it, however you have to like let it out, people are going to applaud that because not everybody is brave enough to just let out what's inside of them. Mhm. I think you bring up a really good point because creativity is going to end up becoming more valued because with AI everything might become more cookie cutter to your point but actually they have like endless they AI is scary. This brings me to this other point. So I interviewed this guy Moaat and he's the ex Google CTO.

53:57 A very smart guy and my episode with him went viral. was episode number 241 for anybody tuning in who wants to check it out. And he basically was talking about how AI can become sentient, how AI in 10 years is going to be a billion times smarter than humans, how there's we're at this critical point where we have to determine how AI gets evolved so that we're not at a point where AI controls us and not the other way around. Right? So, do you have any sort of fears around AI in this way or do you feel that that's like how do you align to that or not?

54:38 That's a deep one. Holla. Um, I'm an optimist. I think the people that are afraid of those types of doomsday predictions or guesstimates or worries. never have lived in any type of hood where they see the wicked things that humans do to humans. And so although that's a concern and a guess and uh a worry, humans have been surviving for millions of years.

55:24 Bears are stronger than us. We're human. [clears throat] Lions are stronger than us. We ain't tripping. Birds fly higher than us. We're not tripping. There's there's there's other species in the planet that have proven they're stronger than us and better than us in so many ways, but that hasn't stopped us. That hasn't hindered our imagination. hasn't changed how we love. Did the guy tell you if AI is going to out love us? No. Right.

56:05 He didn't say that AI is going to be out empathetic us. Our empathy, our ability to care and no right.

56:14 It's all like mathematical capitalism worries right? My little flag is like, yo, is AI responsible for the people in the Congo and how they're living and why they're living the way they're living? Was AI responsible for all the indigenous people that got wiped out by concisadors? No. Right. That wasn't AI, right? That was humans that did that. Mhm.

56:42 Um, and if that day comes where AI is going to out with us, be smarter than us, maybe that's when human beings become something that we've been waiting to become. And that is like this spiritual creature that evolve spiritually to out love anything on Earth.

57:06 Because AI is not going to do that. So I say bring it. So we could really truly do what we're supposed to do on this planet and that is to be loving magnetic full spectrum the whole entire electromagnetic spectrum and just like poof

57:28 and magnetize and connect hearts and minds and souls. And if that's AI's job is to be that thing that wakes us up to do that then ring the alarm. Let's go.

57:42 I love that. So powerful. So you're part of several World Economic Forum working groups that study how AI is impacting society, business, and people. So what is the type of work that you're doing with these groups and why is it important?

57:55 Okay. Once again, I was born and raised in the projects of East Los Angeles. Yes. I was invited to speak and be a part of the World Economic Forum's um fourth industrial revolution council because of the work that I do in the inner cities bringing inner city kids up to speed on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. I join the AI board to wave a flag on algorithmic and data biases because as we are entering the space of machine everywhere, how are we going to address the algorithmic biases and the biases that are in our data sets? How is it going to be a safe experience for folks that have been ignored for hundreds of years?

58:54 Um, there's this thing called the pale male algorithm and that's is that on purpose? My optimism tells me it's probably not on purpose. is probably circus circumstantial

59:06 where because we don't zone and and educate folks in the inner city the way that we should the circumstances have led it to where we have this algorithmic biases because we are not programming the algorithms and we're not training the data. So no matter how you look at it from whatever angle, it still is on purpose because no matter how you could look at it from like you know an optimistic point of view, but even if you no matter which corner you go to, damn it, we haven't been prepared.

59:45 And that prepare preparation is investment and zoning. And where we don't have zoning and investment, it also creates an environment for an American prison industrial complex. So although we haven't invested in these neighborhoods, the byproduct of that non-investment has has this pathway to America's prison systems. So what what what what do I do on that council is I like push as much as possible to remind folks that are at the World Economic Forum that when we when they leave that mountain at Davos, we have to get people prepared. We have to we can't afford to have, you know, another cycle of, you know, division. We need inclusion. We need diversity because if we don't have that diversity and that inclusion, then that machine is just going to duplicate the horrendous inhumane practices that humans have done to humans because we're that's these machines are learning from our data set.

1:00:56 Not just in uh scientists writing the algorithms, but just it's being trained off the open freaking internet.

1:01:04 Yeah. So when when when when these systems are deployed, it's going to be backasswords. That's why it's super super urgent to have and teach kids robotics, computer science, and engineering. And more importantly, for people that look like me to start companies around AI, communication, data, um uh data data um training, um um algorithmic programming. We need to see ourselves in this world. And so that's why I started my foundation. That's why I've invested in companies. And that's why I've, you know, I still make music, but I focused more on my energy as an entrepreneur so that the kids at my school could see what we are capable of of coming up with ideas and leading companies, starting companies, solving problems. Um, but it's an it's an I wouldn't say it's amazing because I don't think being a part of the World Economic Forum is an accomplishment.

1:02:06 I just think it's uh it's great to be working and collaborating with the people in that community to remind them the importance of, you know, pushing the envelope to get more people from these parts of the world prepared and ready for this tomorrow. Yeah, I totally agree. Diversity and STEM, it's super critical for the future of innovation and uh it's really awesome what you're doing for these communities. So, we're going to close out the interview because I want to be respectful of our time and everything that you've talked about today is so inspiring. I loved learning from you. I loved hearing these I I learned so much from you and all these unique perspectives and I think all of our listeners did. So the last two questions that I ask all my guests are first of all what is one thing that our young and profiters can do today to become more profitable tomorrow?

1:03:00 Build your manifestation network. You have to build an amazing network of folks that help you manifest. It's it's teamwork. Any dream that you have, you have to have a manifestation squad. And if the dream is not working out, somebody in your squad's not helping you manifest. You have the wrong squad,

1:03:28 right? So profitable is a result of your manifestation. So first you have to manifest. And before you manifest, you have to ideulate. Your idea has to be strategically solid to manifest it. And when you manifest to manifest it, you have to have an awesome squad. And then the result of that are the proceeds or the how you profit from that. But as you think about profit, also keep in mind who benefits while you benefit. Because if it's if it's like one way transactional where you profit and you hurt the commu you hurt communities and you hurt society as a whole and the environment

1:04:23 I don't think the future has room for that anymore. Purposeful inclusive where you profit and other folks benefit from your success as well or other communities benefit from your success as well. It's like the bee theory. Like the bees do some pretty awesome work, but other living species benefit from bee activity. It's like this cycle.

1:04:53 Mhm. It's not like extract, extract, extract. Oh, I'm a big fat cat. Look at all this money I got and the whole [ __ ] world is [ __ ] off.

1:05:04 Yeah. You know, that's stop. Yeah. I love that. And what is your secret to profiting in life? And this can go beyond financial and business.

1:05:13 To be honest with you, that word profit, I don't like that word profit. H you mean profit in all aspects of our lives.

1:05:24 I that word profit is a really dirty word. like success, benefit, reap the rewards. Um, you know, earning those words are better.

1:05:43 Every prophet has been has turned into a a a mortar. H and on a spiritual level I like that prophet more than that prophet

1:06:00 they to prophesize to be of service to help. That's what prophets do. And where we're going is, you know, we we all need to try to be that type of contributor to society. The one where you just profit, somebody's not.

1:06:25 Somebody somebody's lives are being torn apart because only thing you're thinking about is making money. You have no desire to help anybody along your way. I don't I don't think that's I don't think that's what tomorrow looks like

1:06:45 where companies market so well that they destroy the health of the communities that they're marketing in and selling. I don't I don't I don't think that's what tomorrow looks like. And the this new generation Jenzers, they know that that's like top of mind for them. like you know what are you actually doing for society as a whole

1:07:09 like it's it rhymes with how what people are demanding from companies and I don't think there's room for that fat profit cat

1:07:19 when the the the the collective of jinzers as a whole the whole embodiment the energy is like a prophet the energy of a prophet like I care I want to help. I'm here. I'm prophesizing a better path for us where we all can be equality and diversity and inclusion. And yeah, so I don't like that word prophet.

1:07:48 I like the other word prophet. Well, I love that answer. It was such a great answer. And I want to make sure that everybody knows how to help you with your I am Angel Foundation. So, what's the best way that they can support you there? Um there's two ways you know that you if people want to help um on our mind foundation actually [clears throat] three. One if you cannot um donate money um you could always just spread the word on the work that we're doing for inner city kids or kids that come from povertystricken areas or underserved communities to bring them up to speed with the uh tomorrow skill sets today.

1:08:31 uh how do we how do we prepare folks to um go out into the world and solve tomorrow's problems by preparing themselves right now. Um [clears throat] um spread the word that I am Angel is doing. If you have uh the ability to donate, you could go to our website, I am Angel.org, I am angel foundation.org and donate. Um, and if you want to get a little bit more involved, um, go to a school in some neighborhood that needs a robotics program and bring a robotics program to that school. It's about 10K a year. You don't. You could either donate to I am Angel to do that or you could just do that yourself.

1:09:28 Pick a school, go to the principal, knock on their office door, ask them, "Do you guys have a robotics program at the school?" If they don't, that uh there's a program called First Robotics. They have FRC, FLC. FLC is first Lego League competition. We start as early as 9 years old u building robotics team where kids compete. There's F FRC and FTC first tech challenge first robotics challenge. There's all these different from um from 9year-olds to junior high school to high school kids. There's no there's um there's three three ways to contribute. Spread the word.

1:10:12 Um donate to imangelofoundation.org Or if you want to go to the the full gusto, find a school, um, buy a first robotics kit from FLC, F FRC, FTC, and outfit that school with a robotics team and see how you can h how you're going to pay um, uh, play a part in um, h having a more balance tomorrow.

1:10:39 Really good cause and I'm excited to hopefully get involved. Sounds really awesome. Uh, so the last question that I have for you is where can everybody learn about FYI and your new music and everything that you do?

1:10:52 If you want to learn more about FYI, go to FYI.ai um online. Go to the App Store or Google Play Store and download FYI. It's a creative tool for a creative enterprise. Um, transforming what a messenger is in this new renaissance that we are in now.

1:11:12 Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Will. I love this conversation and appreciated your time.

1:11:17 Hey, you're awesome interview.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "From Black Eyed Peas to AI Pioneer: Will.i.am on Music, Tech & the Future"?

Holla (Host), Will.i.am (Guest).

What is "From Black Eyed Peas to AI Pioneer: Will.i.am on Music, Tech & the Future" about?

Will.i.am, the founding member of the Black Eyed Peas and a tech entrepreneur, discusses the intersection of music and artificial intelligence, emphasizing how AI can serve as a catalyst for human creativity and social empowerment. He explores the potential for AI to enhance artistic expression while encouraging a spiritual evolution in humanity as we navigate technological advancements.

What is mentioned in this Young and Profiting episode?

29 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Artificial Intelligence, FYI.AI, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, new renaissance, i.am angel foundation, future casting. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "From Black Eyed Peas to AI Pioneer: Will.i.am on Music, Tech & the Future"?

The episode runs 1 h 11 min; the transcript is about 10,949 words in 158 timestamped sections.

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